The Music Department performed its last concert of the school year on May 14 in the new Performing Arts Center (PAC). The ambience of the new PAC, the lighting, and the sound quality elevated this concert from past concerts performed in the old theatre.
The End of the Year Concert featured a student-led saxophone quartet, differentiating the concert from past concerts, drum and saxophone player Joseph Yim, a senior, said. One of the most memorable moments of the concert for him was the saxophone quartet, since it was a fully student-led performance that practiced outside of school, Yim said.
“I’ve never done that out of all four years,” Yim said. “That was my first time doing it with my friends, and also another memorable moment was the jazz combo that I did. It was the last performance, and we had three different friends in the combo, and we practiced once, so we rehearsed once and stood up on stage. I was really nervous, and we didn’t really do well, but that was it. It was a good experience to make stuff on the spot and practice.”
Kylie Ward, Director of Bands, says that the concert felt “really awesome” because she got to see how her students progressed over the school year, she said.
“I felt a lot of pride in the work that they created and performed at that concert,” Ward said. “It was definitely really, really exciting to have our first performance in the new Performing Arts Center. It felt like a long time coming, and I know for me, I really only waited not even a full year for that space.”
Ward’s favorite piece to conduct on Thursday night was “Moana,” performed by her concert band, she said.
“We did some other pieces with the other ensembles that were more challenging for me to conduct, but I liked conducting ‘Moana’ with the concert band, because I felt like out of all the groups, they were the most connected with each other,” Ward said. “With me, and when the group gets to that point, you do more than just kind of keep a beat with them, and you can start kind of guiding their mood and their character, and the sense of emotion that comes out of the piece, which is definitely more preferable as a conductor.”
Practicing to perform jazz at the concert was different from practicing to play his various solos in other parts of the concert, Yim said.
“Improvisation for jazz is different from other concert bands, because (for) concert bands, you have the sheet music for it, so you just need to look at the music and copy or just play what’s written,” Yim said. “But then for jazz you need an improv, so you play what you’ve been practicing. It’s not written, you just make stuff up on the spot, so you just need extra practice for jazz soloing.”
Senior Janek Mulpuru, baritone and saxophone player, says that this is his final high school concert after four years in the band program.
“It was kind of bittersweet,” Mulpuru said. “I’m going to miss MHS and concerts here, especially now that we have a new building, but also it’s exciting because I definitely want to keep moving forward in terms of music, so I’m going to continue it in college.”
The band program started incorporating student-led ensembles just this year, and it’s something that Ward would like to keep doing next year, she said.
“I think it’s important to showcase the work that the kids do all on their own without my guidance, so I would definitely love to continue doing that,” Ward said. “I would definitely like to push more in a professional direction with the way the event is run now that we have professional audio and lighting and everything. I think that I can do a better job at being more concise on stage and having more of a professional persona.”
MHS performs their last concert for the first time in the PAC
