Marion Center’s performing arts students have been working hard all year in order to prepare for their concerts.
On April 29th, at 7:00pm, Marion Center’s junior high band kicked off the exciting concert. They performed “Starsplitter Fanfare” (Balmages). Following “Starsplitter Fanfare,” they played “Spring,” by (Standridge), the slowest song in their concert. After “Spring,” they performed “Ballet of the Gnomes,” (Compello).
Following the junior high performance, the senior high band took to the stage. They performed “Three Ayres From Gloucester” (Stuart), “Rippling Watercolors” (Balmages), and “Rites of Tamburo” (Smith). The students in both the junior and senior high band meet several times a week to prepare for their performances. Many of them spend extra time out of school practicing their instruments as well.
After the senior high performance, the jazz band performed a selection of fun, timeless jazz songs. The first song they played was “Abacus,” by Ryan Fraley. After “Abacus,” they performed a chill, laid back song, “Smooth Operator,” by Sade. They finished the concert with an extremely popular jazz song, “Sing, Sing, Sing,” by Louis Prima. The students in the jazz band meet once a week after school for a few hours to rehearse. Jazz band is a really fun experience, and a great opportunity to stretch your music skills.
Many of the students who participated in this year’s spring band concerts also were a part of District Band, County Band, marching band, Band Fest, and District Jazz. These were all opportunities for students to get to learn new music, make friends, and have a chance to perform.
On March 21, we had our spring choir concerts. Once again, the junior high students started the show by singing a popular favorite, “Don’t Stop Believing,” by Journey. This song will be followed by “Deep in the Meadow,” a lullaby from the Hunger Games. Following this song, the choir sang “The Skies Can’t Keep their Secrets,” based on a poem by Cythia Gray. To conclude their concert, they sang and danced to “Watoto Wa Dunia,” a song in Swahili by Sally K. Albrecht and Jay Althouse.
After that, the senior high choir took to the stage, and sang “4 Chords” (Brymer), “How Sweet the Moonlight” (Crocker), “City od Stars” (arr. Emerson), “Nine Hundred Miles (arr. Silvey), “Kwaheri Angu Rafiki” (Gilpin), “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (arr. Shaw), “Three Contemporary Latin Settings” (Estes), and “Ad Astra” (Narverud).
Following the senior high concert, the junior high choir came back up on stage to join the senior high students in a combined number, “Stand Together,” a unique choral piece, by Jim Popoulis.
It was a really good concert, and you could see all the students’ hard work paying off. Many of the choir students participated in one or more of the following this year, County Choir, “Disney’s Descendants (The Musical),” District Choir, and Junior District Choir.
The seniors that participated in the spring concerts were Brittney McIntire, Makenzee Shotts, and RJ Gutierrez. We are all extremely proud of their hard work throughout the years and looking forward to what they will accomplish in the future.
We are very thankful to have such a strong performing arts program at our school, and proud of all the students and teachers who pour hard work into making things like this happen. Congratulations to all students who participated in band and choir this year!
