On September 14, Campo hosted its first Pops concert of the year in the CPAC, led by new band teacher Tana Barnett. Barnett’s career at Campolindo started positively as the Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and the orchestra demonstrated strong cohesion, despite the fact that they were only given 5 weeks to prepare.
“Barnett took an active approach to the first concert, which was kind of refreshing,” senior President of Wind Ensemble Ben Young said. “I wanted to encourage audience participation,” Barnett said. This proved successful as “there was a much larger audience,” said senior Saxophonist Isaac Jai.
The theme of the concert revolved around a night at the Oscars, featuring songs from popular films and a humorous take on La La Land being mistakenly handed the Oscar in 2017.
The freshmen quickly found their rhythm, successfully executing their designated pieces, even with limited preparation. According to freshman Clementine Damon-Espinas, they found success because Barnett “drilled [them] pretty hard, which allowed definite improvement throughout the rehearsals.”
However, it’s difficult to be perfect on a first attempt. “Some of it was a little spotty, especially when we played Mission Impossible. A couple of our star players like our tenor sax and one of our flute players were missing, however, we will continue working on bringing more emotion to our performances,” Damon-Espinas said.
Next, the Wind Ensemble delivered a confident performance, despite being short handed in the percussion section. “The majority of the players [in the Wind Ensemble] are seniors who have been playing together for a long time,” Young said. Thus, the band quickly gelled together and competently delivered their performance.
There was, however, a shortage of students in the percussion section, forcing students to assume multiple roles during the concert. This minor inconvenience didn’t have much bearing on the performance and “the percussion section is strong this year,” Young stated.
The concert concluded with a performance from the student orchestra, which included a moving piece from Schindler’s list. The students gave an emotional performance that showed both their natural skill and their technical improvement. “I gave them pieces that touched on things they could develop. After all it is school and we focus on learning,” Barnett said.
Overall it appeared that the students developed chemistry quickly and successfully demonstrated their musical prowess. “I thought it was a great evening and I’m really proud of the students,” Barnett said.
