Park band performed their second concert of the year on Feb. 26. This was their POPs concert where the wind ensemble, jazz band and 9th grade band perform individually before they come together at the end for a joint piece. This format allows for the band community to come together and for ninth graders to see what they are going to be able to do if they continue their journey in band through the next year. This year there was a setting change as it took place in the middle school while the high school cafeteria and auditorium are shut down due to construction.
Junior Adam Rosvold said the new setting was a little bit of a different experience, but it still ended up working well.
“It was a different setting than we play. Last year we played at the high school but since it was being remodeled, we had to move it. It still went well and was very fun,” Rosvold said.
Band Director Annaliese Heim said they worked really hard for this concert and it ended up right where she wanted it because of that.
“I thought it went really well,” Heim said. “I was really proud of the work they put in and they had a really successful concert.”
Freshman Nick Moran, said although he enjoyed watching the jazz band and wind ensemble, he thinks the ninth grade band performed very well.
“I think the Wind Ensemble was amazing as usual. The jazz band started everything off great, and the ninth grade was really solid,” Moran said.
Because it was a little more of an informal concert, the band was able to choose a theme and select songs that fit the theme. This year the theme was fantasy, and they performed songs from Star Wars, How To Train Your Dragon and Spiderman.
Heim said students have a larger role in choosing the songs for this concert and the students were able to vote for songs they thought fit the theme.
“POPs is a special concert because kids have more of a say in the music selections,“ Heim said. “Out of the four pieces for band nine and wind ensemble, two of them are related to the theme and chosen by the students.”
Moran said the movie themes were a lot of fun to play, especially the Star Wars theme, which is one of his favorites.
“My favorite song we played was the Star Wars Theme because I’ve always loved Star Wars ever since I was a kid,” Moran said. “It is also really iconic, which makes it fun to hear as well.”
Rosvold said even though it went well overall, they did have some technical issues with microphones and low quality stands, but even that did little to detract from the overall performance.
“The microphones weren’t working, and the stands weren’t very good quality because they were borrowed from the community band, but there weren’t many things that went wrong. It was a pretty fun and easy night,” Rosvold said.
Park bands have their final concert early May of this year. The exact date is to be determined.
