Two hundred people sat in the audience on January 30th as the jazz and concert bands took turns displaying their talents in front of their family and friends Wednesday night in the SHS auditorium.

The jazz band performed first, with songs such as “Cute” by Neal Hefti and “The Saint Louis Blues” by Handy/Davis.
After the jazz band was finished performing, the concert band set up while Band Boosters president Stanley Martin said a few words about funding for the band program.
When the president finished speaking, the concert band was ready to go with a complex piece called “Cut to the Chase” by T. Stalter.  The pieces they performed had a rhythm and melody that made them inspiring, interesting, and above all entertaining.
The concert closed with a rendition of “America the Beautiful” in which band director Christian Poole encouraged the audience to sing along, followed by a standing ovation.
One member of the concert band, junior Adam Fishburn, was truly thrilled by the evening’s performance.
“I was most excited about playing ‘Cut to the Chase’,” commented Fishburn.  “It’s really interesting and fun to play.”
“Cut to the Chase” was popular with the the audience, as well as other students, who seemed to really enjoy playing it.
Junior Amanda Good commented on how much effort the band students had put into the performance.
“We’ve been working on this since concert band started back in November,” said Good.
The students weren’t the only ones pleased with the performance; Poole also had a few words to say about the concert.
“I was excited about actually performing the music,” said Poole.  “Rehearsing is very different than actually performing, since the performance only happens once.”
Poole also had a few words to say about the challenges that the band students faced while preparing for the concert.
“One of the most challenging things for the students was using their inside voices and adapting from playing outdoors during the marching band season,” said Poole.