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The band and choir concert on February 11 was the first one in over a year since Covid-19 shut down school last March.
“I’ve really missed it,” said Timothy Kidder, the band and choir teacher. “I didn’t realize how important it was to me till it was taken away.”
Not having a concert in over a year not only made students miss concerts, but caused some real difficulties.
“It’s extremely difficult to go over a year without a concert and then suddenly have to get back in the rhythm of playing in a concert,” said Libby Booher, “and have the high expectations that everyone’s upholding because every band concert’s the same.”
The concert also held a lot of unknowns for the band and choir.
“But this one’s just awkward,” Booher said. “Because we didn’t know how to put on our masks or we didn’t know how to play the music with the percussion because we never did that with Covid.”
That didn’t stop the band and choir though.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” said senior Spencer Olson. “It was a little nerve-wracking but it was kinda like, let’s play.”
The concert also gave the band and choir the feeling of accomplishment and closure.
“So when you perform there’s just a release,” Kidder said. “It just feels really good, especially coming off the stage once it’s done. It’s fun during the performance but there’s just this really nice feeling of accomplishment and release so that was probably my favorite part was when we were done and we realized we get to move on and that was really nice.”
The music played at the concert was selected for its uplifting mood. Songs such as Phantom of the Opera Medley, by Johnie Vinson; Nevermore by Brian Balmages.
“I felt like with everything going on in the world and in our community and in our school and everything that we’d had to put up with, it would be a good idea to use this opportunity to sing and play things that were more fun and uplifting,” Kidder said, ”that kinda spoke to the issues and trials that we’ve been going through. So I tried to pick music that spoke to that.”
Playing uplifting music is what helped a lot of students stay positive throughout their trials.
“With Phantom, everybody’s like oh my gosh I love this, this is so much fun,” Booher said. “And with like Jazz Band and stuff like that, it’s so upbeat and fun and everybody loves it, and soon as it’s a happy song, people get in the mood of happy.”
And even with the trials the band and choir have experienced with Covid restrictions, they still worked hard.
“I thought my students were very prepared for this concert,” Kidder said. “They’ve really worked really hard. And they’ve had every excuse not to, with this year being the way that it is. They’ve really worked hard and it showed.”
