The Winter band concert on Dec. 11 marked the first major performance of the school year for all the Park bands, including the freshman band, jazz band and wind ensemble. For many students, the concert was both exciting and nerve-racking, as it would be their first as high schoolers, especially with the addition of a new band director, Dan Anderson. Through challenging music, solos, a mix of jazz and traditional band repertoire. The band offered a wonderful performance filled with strong and passionate pieces.
Junior saxophonist Dayton Earle said his favorite piece of the night was “Spain” by Chick Corea, a high-energy jazz standard known for its improvisation opportunities. He said the challenge made the experience more fun.
“My favorite song we performed was ‘Spain,’” Earle said. “I love improvisation. Doing improv solos is fun and challenging. It adds that extra touch that really defines the performance and dedication.”
Band director Dan Anderson, who joined the program earlier this fall, said the concert represented a strong first performance of the year. He said he received positive feedback from families and community members, mostly about the variety and difficulty of the pieces.
“I only heard positives, particularly about the complexity of each song,” Anderson said. “Everybody really enjoyed the program and the selections. Especially for my first concert here, I thought it was a great performance overall from everyone.”
Junior percussionist Hannah Levitt said her favorite piece of the night in wind ensemble was “Everglow” by Katahj Copeley. She said this particular song had her favorite percussion part in it, and she felt the ensemble came together especially well, considering the transition to a new director.
“Everglow was my favorite song,” Levitt said. “It just had the right vibe to it, it sounded like it was meant for our ensemble, and I really like my part for it. The performance as an ensemble worked really well, especially as the first performance of the year and with our new band director.”
Earle said he felt the group performed well overall, crediting the band’s preparation and rehearsal environment. He said the band’s new director played a huge role in creating a confident and supportive atmosphere in the band.
“We did very good,” Earle said. “Mr. Anderson prepared us very well. He always tells us to play loud and not worry about messing up because we’re not all going to mess up at the same time.”
According to Anderson, preparing the students for a concert goes beyond learning notes and rhythms. He said he focuses on professionalism, stage presence and helping students understand what it means to perform at a high level.
“I believe in designing a program and making sure that things look very professional,” Anderson said. “We spend a lot of time on how to get on stage, how to get off stage and how you should look on stage. It’s not just how you dress but like how you hold yourself, the accountability of it. I want people to focus on the music rather than on something distracting.”
The bands prepare with rigorous training, preparing pieces and doing assessments. Acoding to Levitt, these assignments help the director focus more one-to-one and help with certain parts of a song.
“We always spend a couple of months daily working out pieces, getting ready,” Levitt said. “We also have one or two playing assessments as well per cycle, so the band director sees what parts we can improve on in each song.”
According to Earle, one of his favorite things about the jazz band is the creative freedom and improvisation that it allows. He said preparing for solos involves him practicing chord changes, rehearsing consistently and fixing mistakes as they come.
“My favorite thing about jazz band in general is improvisation and solos,” Earle said. “I prepare by writing down chord changes for solos. I practice and notice what I’m doing wrong so I can fix it.”
Anderson said band nine and jazz band handled difficult pieces well, especially given the range and backgrounds within the ensembles, including new students from other schools, homeschool programs and those moving up from middle school.
“Band nine did a good job (with a ) hard program of music, and jazz band did a good, hard program of music with a lot of different styles,” Anderson said. “Having students, especially freshmen, take solos was a lot of great moments for them. I’m so proud of our newer students, too. The ones that come from other districts or homeschooling, for example, this is their first time with all the other students. To take that risk is very important for them.”
