Participants of February Concert Rave about Show

The February concert took place in the NHS auditorium on February 15 and exhibited both the orchestra and the band ensemble. There were about fifty students in the band ensemble and about forty kids in the orchestra. Drums were incorporated into all of the songs for the band. Percussion instruments were also used in many of the songs played in the show.

The concert band began the concert, then the wind ensemble, and lastly, the jazz lab. It took the orchestra six weeks to prepare for the February concert; they started preparing at the beginning of January. Both the orchestra and band in the show played an essential role in the overall performance and together engaged the audience because of the diversity. No instrumental show is complete without both an orchestra and a band ensemble.

Isabela Ramirez Genao, an orchestra participant in the show gave insight into the process of setting up for the show. “The show was set up on the stage, we had four rows of chairs, and each row had multiple stands for the music. There were percussion instruments for the songs 'Farandole' and 'Blue Rhythmico.'" 

Ramirez Genao was not involved in the entire show. "I was in one key part of the show which is the orchestra.” Even though she was only in a small part of the show, she is grateful for being able to perform. There are multiple songs the orchestra played that included many other instruments rather than just the violin. Isabela says, “My favorite song that was in the show is 'Blue Rhythmico', the second to last song we played because the cellos and the bases had their long solo and we were their 'backup dancers.' I love their representation because they got a new opportunity to perform.” Isabela not only loves playing violin but loves hearing the other instrumentalists shine. Isabela also says, “I also love the song 'Riverside Celebration' because it’s the song I know by heart.” Ramirez takes a lot of pride in playing so she has multiple favorite pieces of music that were in the show.

Freshman Jada Garcia, part of the band ensemble, said there's more to practicing than the music. “To prepare for the show we practiced in the band room and the auditorium stage. We practiced going on stage and rehearsing the songs." The preparation for the show was very last minute but took up a lot of time to perfect. Jada participates in the concert band which performed first in the show. She said, “We performed two songs, 'Shimmer and Joy' and the other being 'Three Years.'" 

Jada said that she plays the trumpet but she has only been playing for a few months. She did marching band prior and had to learn the trumpet very fast. She says, “For trumpet, it is pretty difficult because you could play five different notes without putting any fingers down and you also can injure your lips if you don’t warm up.” She admits that her band ensemble group has improved a lot since the beginning of the year, and she is really proud of how the show turned out with Mrs. Hamada conducting the band.

Another orchestra participant in the show, Emily Kean, said, “Playing this year at the February concert was not nerve-racking, but it was more exciting and fun. As a collective whole, I think we did really well. The show performance went  smoothly, and I think it was enjoyable for the audience.”

Most of the time, before a concert Emily would get nervous but because this was one of her many concerts she had confidence in playing. Emily has been playing the violin since third grade but started to take it seriously last year. Her favorite song in the show is 'Farandole', although" she said, "it is the hardest to play.” For Emily, the hardest songs seem to be her favorite because although they are challenging to learn they sounded the best.

Mrs. Nowik, the orchestra conductor, said, “Conducting the show is an exhilarating and powerful feeling.” Given the opportunity to conduct the show is an earnest job, and she doesn’t take it lightly. She explains when picking the songs for the show that she picked the songs she already knew and enjoyed to insure the songs were fit for the show. She picked songs she knew would work for the group. She said, “I gave the group a choice to pick a song; they chose the song 'Blue Rhythmico'” She speaks very highly of her students because of the growth they have shown throughout the past months leading up to the show.