By Nico King Gile,
Staff Writer.
On Oct. 7, the Santa Rosa High School concert band, symphonic band and orchestra performed for crowds of students and parents in “What’s Up Symphony?” which was their debut concert. The challenge facing the band and orchestra in their first concert of the school year was blending the two separate classes together.
To begin the performance, the concert and symphonic bands played “Diamond Joe’s Riviera Club,” “Glimmer” and “Raiders March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark. “Diamond Joe’s Riviera Club” was particularly memorable, coming through resoundingly, sauntering with light crescendos and falls. Just the kind of music for a prohibition era speakeasy, but, of course, in the middle of our auditorium. “Glimmer,” another song played, was written by Nick Pulley, a music teacher in West County.
After that, the orchestra and symphonic bands played “What’s Up at the Symphony,” which the concert was named after, as well as “Syncopated Clock” and “Nimrod.” “What’s Up at the Symphony” brought a unique and funny tone by playing the music as if it was an episode of “Looney Toons,” down to the memorable finish: “That’s all, folks.” The piece holds real nostalgia for a lot of people and introduced orchestra music to many of them.
Junior Jace Sullivan, who is in the symphonic band, said the main challenge was “blending with the orchestra and concert band.” Sullivan said this issue was compounded by “a lack of rehearsal time” with the orchestra and band. A large part of the difficulties was even picking a time for rehearsal. They scheduled them for the mornings, but not everyone could come at that time. Junior Lucia Carballo Hidalgo, who played in Spain before coming here, said that she couldn’t hear herself at rehearsals because “the winds were playing a lot stronger.” This issue came up late because she said they “couldn’t rehearse before.” Still, the performance “was better than the. . . rehearsals,” said Carballo Hidalgo.
Looking forward, the band’s schedule is not as grand as last year but you can be excited for the orchestra’s trip to San Francisco, the band’s winter concert on Jan. 15 and spring concert on May 14 and, of course, a bit of Pomp and Circumstance at graduation.
