Bands join for a festive evening
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–
From contemporary compositions, to military marches and “Harry Potter” tunes, more than 100 band players descended upon Brunelle Theater in the annual Festivity of Bands concert on the evening of Feb. 19.
The program featured the UC Davis Concert Band, the CSU Sacramento Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the host Davis High Symphonic Band.
For the Symphonic Band in its first performance of the year, its repertoire has been in the works for a couple of months, culminating in the performance of two related pieces: the “First Suite for Military Band” by Gustav Holst and Steven Bryant’s “Suite Dreams.”
According to saxophone player and senior Keir Negron, members had practiced both as an ensemble and as individuals, all in addition to extracurricular sectionals.
However, the hard work seems to have paid off as the band was able to witness and learn from other ensembles’ performances.
“I’ll get a chance to look at the higher levels of bands. Once you’re kind of in the Concert or Symphonic Bands, there’s sort of nowhere else to go in high school, so you kind of look farther ahead, and that’s valuable,” Negron said.
The night concluded with a massive ensemble of all three bands under the direction of DHS band director Thomas Slabaugh performing the “Themes from ‘Green Bushes,’” which is based on the original “Green Bushes” English folk song.
The Symphonic Band’s next performance will be on Friday, April 11 during the two-day Band Festival that will feature the DHS bands and other ensembles in the region.
