Thursday Night Band Concert

In our school district, opportunities for instrumental instruction starts in 4th grade with strings. Then in 5th grade, band instruments are introduced. The process for picking a band instrument was based on the perspective student's ability to produce some sort of sound with the instruments they were interested in. I had suggested to Brian to try the clarinet. He did try the clarinet and his second choice, the saxophone, which he ended up with. As it turns out, in his school, only two students ended up with the saxophone. I'm not really sure why, it can't be that different from a clarinet (there are at least four of them). Anyways, I like the sax, and Brian enjoys playing. As a bonus, he doesn't squeak too much or make awful noises with the instrument!

Ever since he started playing, we've asked Brian when the band would perform in concert. The school holds several concerts a year - the Holiday concerts, the 5th grade concert (the one Brian didn't sing in at all), the 4th grade concert and the Orchestra concert. But not a word about the Band concert.

We learned there would be a District Wide Band performance - with all the elementary schools - towards the end of the school year. All the 5th grade band members take a day to practice together, culminating in a concert that evening, at one of the middle schools.

But as a last minute add to our school's Family Arts Night, the school band was asked to perform. This is what we were looking for - a nice, small concert with just our school's band, at our school.


Tonight, he's the lone sax player - the other player wasn't able to attend. Talk about pressure!

I couldn't figure out why the trombone section was so large - at least 7 of them!

I was told the trombone is an easy instrument to learn - that's why there are so many of them. I'm not sure I 100% believe that, but I guess if you have a lot of brass, then it makes the band sound full.

One of the pieces - Frère Jacques, performed as a round:

Brian is in the second group, so at the end, you can hear his sax playing. [You just have to sit through some "rough spots" and clarinet squeaks to get there.]

And a successful first concert for our 5th grade band!


I'm glad they had the opportunity to perform tonight, as I most likely won't be able to get as close during the All District concert.