By Melanie Parrish and Megan Johnson
On Wednesday, March 12, the band program came together for the annual Pops concert. The concert included performances jazz, concert, pep, intermediate and advanced bands. It also featured the final performance of “Currents” by the marching band and a look at the show “Repeat” by the Winter Percussion Project.
The concert featured songs from famous movies such as “Shake a Tail Feather” from The Blues Brothers and “Somewhere,” the ballad from “West Side Story.” Another piece played by the advanced band, “Redacted,” was found to be popular with several of band members. This included trombone player senior Craig Bossley.
“It’s so weird. It hits you when you don’t expect it,” said Bossley.
A number of the musicians had differing opinions on the quality of the concert, including trumpet player freshman Robert Wormley.
“It went well. Not great, but well. It didn’t seem as perfect as it did in the classroom,” he said.
Tuba player junior Brandon Blasdell, on the other hand, felt that the concert went exactly as intended.
“It went just as we planned, because we rehearsed it in class a lot,” he said.
Not only did this concert provide entertainment through instruments, it also showcased routine dances performed by the A and B winter guards. B guard, which is for younger teens and new members, performed to the song “Lego House” by Ed Sheeran. Next the A guard, which is for the more experienced members, performed to “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven.
Most of the experienced guard members appeared positive about the performance beforehand.
“I’m really excited because we’ve been working hard at this since November,” said junior A guard member Madi Wiley.
However, less experienced guard members such as junior Meg Buckalew expressed that the routines are harder than what is expected.
“It gets easier depending on how long you’ve been doing it. Tossing’s harder than dancing,” she said.
At the end of the performance, band director Harold Yankey thanked the audience for coming out and expressed gratitude towards his students.
Wormley concluded that since it was the last time playing that marching band show, it was very emotional.
“I can’t wait for next year.”
