The Wadsworth High School band department held its annual spring concert. The concert started at 7:00 on May 2, 2024. Band members had to be at the school at 6:30 to set up the stage. It was held in the Performing Arts Center or the PAC. Hundreds of people showed up to watch the band perform.
Maggie Charlton, a sophomore, watched the seats fill up as people arrived.
“If I had to guess, there were maybe about 200-300 people in the audience,” Charlton said. “There were parents and grandparents, and maybe older siblings if their parents made them go.”
The band consists of several sections and they all played at the concert.
“There’s the wind ensemble, symphonic, concert, and jazz band,” said Sara Himmelright, a sophomore at WHS who plays the clarinet and is in the wind ensemble.
The jazz band played before the concert for audience members waiting to enter. They performed “Tank” by Yoko Kano, “I’m Still Standing” by Bernie Taumpin, “Something” by The Beatles, and “Autumn Leaves” by Joseph Kosma.
The wind ensemble played the “Gregson Tuba Concerto” by Edward Gregson, with Casey Mobley as the soloist. They also played “Bond… James Bond” arranged by Stephen Bulla and “ABBA On Broadway” arranged by Michael Brown. Wind ensemble even decorated for their performance.
“For the wind ensemble, we had LED lights on our stands, and we turned them on for Dancing Queen,” Charlton said. “There was also a disco ball that dropped down from the center of the stage.”
The symphonic band played “Kinetic Dances” by Randall D. Standridge, “At the Movies With Danny Elfman” arranged by Justin Williams, and “Rocket Man” by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and arranged by Johnnie Vinson.
The concert band performed “Night Ride Through Metropolis” by Rob Romeyn, “What Was I Made For” by Billie Eilish, and “Coldplay Medley” arranged by Michael Brown.
The concert lasted for an hour and thirty minutes. Once it was over, the band members turned to face the crowd.
“When we’re done playing we stand up and face the audience, and it’s just so much fun looking out and seeing everybody,” Charlton said.
The May performance is their last concert until the 2024 school year begins. Throughout the school year, there have been three total band concerts: the winter and spring concerts, as well as a contest concert where the wind ensemble performed. The spring concert showed how much the band has improved over the school year.
“You get to see how much we’ve progressed,” Himmelright said. “I like that we do concert, symphonic, and then wind because it shows the levels of difficulty. It was really good, and we all had a good time playing.”
