Wadsworth High Schools concert bands performed on May 13 as their last concert performance. It occurred in the PAC at the high school, from 7 to 8 p.m. There are two different bands that performed including a Symphonic band and Wind ensemble.
For the Symphonic band they performed three songs including “Fortress” by Frank Tichelli, “Circles” by Brian Balmages and “Guardians of The Galaxy” a medley by Michael Brown. During “Fortress” the band had several soloists in different instrument sections, one of which was sophomore Lillith Carlson, who plays oboe.
“It was my first solo,” said Carlson. “I was a bit scared but also excited.”
The band had a big screen behind them with a castle picture and it was cloudy, they also had spot lights and also a fog machine going during the song “Fortress.”
Those were not the only songs with effects though. Each song for both bands had effects ranging from cool lights and props, to the use of a fog machine.
“I think the band performed overall well,” said Carlson. “I loved the addition of the effects we added.”
The effects and lighting were planned and added by Senior Thomas Forrer, who is also a part of the Wind ensemble.
A Junior, Liam Hall, also performed in the Symphonic band playing tenor saxophone.
“It’s the last concert of my junior year,” said Hall. “But this year we have a decent sized class.”
Freshman through seniors are able to partake in the Symphonic band.
They practice every week personally and in the classroom sometimes helping each other read music.
“Overall I believe we all felt pretty prepared,” said Carlson. “We always practice during class, and we always go over it several times. The only reason I was a little scared personally was because of my solo.”
Wind Ensemble’s first song was Disney themed featuring songs from Disney movies such as, Encanto, Toy story and more, it was called “Disney around the classroom” arranged by Johnnie Vinson. They also played “Mambo” by Leonard Bernstein, “Rolling stones in concert” by Jagger and Richards and selections from “Wicked” by Stephen Schwartz.
“[My] favorite part was the music we played this year, especially Mambo and the Wicked medley.” said Aaron Casey, a band member of Wind ensemble.
Wind ensemble is one of the bands that gets to perform to fourth graders to show them what fine arts they can do in middle school to high school.
“Playing in Wind seemed daunting at first because it was the top band but it’s really fun if you practice and put in effort,” said Casey.
After each song for both bands, band director Dana Hire asked seniors to stand up to be recognized as this was their last band concert before they graduate.
The band’s last event was to recognize all of the seniors was on May 20 for their annual band awards where seniors can get awards such as scholarships and cords for their graduation.
