Wednesday, November 26, 2003

At one point, I leaned over to the woman next to me and said, “These are high school kids, right?” We both chuckled a bit in amazement at the display of talent we were seeing/hearing.

Dad, you would have loved it immensely since they played a lot of jazz.

Here’s the rundown:

1. Concert Etiquette - in the program they had a long explanation of proper concert etiquette. Of course, no one paid much attention to some of the items (cheering and screaming, being the one most ignored), but the thought was good.

2. Percussion Ensemble - I had no idea what this was going to be. They were slated to do two numbers. First was “Flight of the Bumble Bee” the other was “Toccata” from Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.” I’ve always heard “Flight...” as a strings piece and “Toccata” on the organ, so I was intrigued when the curtain opened to show a semicircle of xylophones and other pipes. And I can’t explain how brilliant they were on both pieces. I got chills during the “Toccata” piece several times.

3. Workshop Jazz - The next section was performed by a jazz band. Jazz is not my thing at all. I can appreciate that it’s good music, but I don’t like it to listen to, really. So I was pleasantly surprised at how well this band played the three numbers: “Freedie Freeloader,” “Little Sunflower,” and “Now’s the Time” with featured soloists throughout. Very talented kids.

4. Concert Band: This was the larger brass orchestra (no strings). They played two pieces: “Tales of the Emerald Isle” and “The Wind and the Lion.” The first was an odd piece that had an African poly-rhythmic sound that I really liked. The second piece needed a little more practice, they were pretty good, but there were some rough spots.

5. Name of the School Withheld Jazz - This was the best part of the show, hands down. This jazz band played four numbers. It was after the first song that I leaned over to make my comment about high school kids. This is the band my small group gal is in. They played “Blue Bossa,” “Jack the Bear,” Sugar Rum Cherry,” and “Manteca.” Unbelievable how good they are - they could have played for Duke Ellington.

6. Symphonic Winds - This was the final segment of the concert. A smaller cut of the Concert Band, a cello and piano were added, my small group gal is in this one too along with her younger sister an another gal in our youth group at church. They did three numbers: “Suo Gan” (this was used in Empire of the Sun), “Fugue” from Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor by Bach, and “Rendevous With The Other Side.” The first number was haunting, lovely, well done. I recognized it from the movie. The second was also well done. The third piece was kind of weird and I’m not sure I liked it and was kind of a bummer of an ending to the concert for me.

Overall, the concert was great. I’m so glad I went, not just to support my friend, but because it was fun entertainment.

I’m looking forward to the chorus concert of another small group gal at another high school in a couple of weeks. Being a chorus geek myself in HS, that will bring back some memories for me, I’m sure.