Concert band and playing percussion in the band for Oliver

I have decided to continue with concert band in my final year of high school and this after school activity counts as a creativity activity for CAS. The school Music Department organizes two annual events, the Spring Gala which is held in April and the Winter Gala which is held in December. But this year, the Music Department is working together with the Theatre Department to produce the Oliver musical. The part Music Department plays in this musical is providing theatrical music to the songs sung by the characters in the musical. So, some of the instrumentalists from concert band have been asked to perform in this band. Ms Duncan, our school music teacher invited me this year to play percussion instruments for the Oliver band. I play the cello in the concert band but the cello music for Oliver is too complex for me to learn in a very short period of time becaause I am still an amateur cellist. So, the cello part is played by Mr Patrick, the school Learning Support teacher.

Playing percussion instruments is also challenging becasue they provide special effects to the music and is not played all the time. Therefore, there are a lot of areas where I don’t pay anything and I have to be very attentinve and count the number of bars to the part where I am playing or else I’ll have missed the place and there won’t be any special effects which will then remove the fun element of the musical.

Since the musical is in December, there won’t be a Winter Gala this December. For concert band we have been learning the music that we will be playing in next year’s Spring Gala in April. We have been learning the music for the theme song of the Pirates of the Caribean which is very fast and lively. Everyone in band enjoys playing this music. Next we will be learning the music for Superstition by Stevie Wonder which is a different genre of music where I suppose there will be a lot of syncopated rhythms.

Playing the cello in concert band
photo credits: Luca Feurriegel

Playing in percussion in the band for Oliver has helped me to identify some of my musical abilities and I am able to develop these skills by taking part in this activity and by playing different types of music with different techniques. Concert Band is a year long commitment hence, I cannot back off at the end of this semester even if I have a lot of school work since I am in my final year of highschool. It will be challenging but I am readyto accept this challenge!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *