Professor Brett Martinez conducts the Instrumental Band in an effort to prepare them for the first concert of the year that will run on Friday, Oct. 6 through Saturday, Oct. 7. This concert, comprised of the Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble and the Show Band, is one of only two performances for the 2017-18 school year. Tyler Krenzin
Darrah Walker
Lantern Staff
The sound of drums playing, flutes whistling and other instruments fill the ears as the band students prepare for their first concert of the year on Friday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 7.
There are only two concerts in the academic year, one in the fall and the other in the spring. The band has rehearsed several times since the school year has started. The students practice three days a week for one hour.
The critiques Professor of Instrumental Music Brett Martinez gives to the students are encouraging. He breaks each section of the pieces of music down and works with each section of instruments to get things to sound as close to perfect as possible.
Once Martinez hears a mistake, he has the students play it over and over until it’s close to perfect.
The students are not the only ones who have room for improvement. There were times where Martinez stopped himself and wrote notes on his sheet of music.
“There is always something to make better,” Martinez said. “If you are not finding something to make better, then you are not looking hard enough.”
Once the pieces were broken down and critiqued the first word to pop into mind is “beautiful”.
The difficult pieces that the concert band is playing shows the improvements and skills the students have done to be able to play college level pieces.
By watching some of the students, they show great confidence in what they are playing.
“Coming from Derby, I’m used to playing difficult pieces,” freshman Olivia Keen said.
Martinez is not expecting a lot of nerves as the first concert approaches.
“I don’t tend to get nervous for them anymore,” Martinez said. “It is a good way to show off the talents of the group.”
The Concert Band is playing a total of four pieces at this concert. Along with the Concert Band, there will be performances by the Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble and Show Band. The audience is to expect a variety of music pieces. The types of pieces the audience should expect are traditional jazz, a variety of concert band literature and some popular pieces.
The Instrumental Concert will run on Friday, Oct 6 at 7:30 p.m. through Saturday, Oct. 7 at the same time.