ARTS
By Zach Adams and Andrew Ludwick
Ludwick
The winter brings huge band
concert for PDS.
Even though the Upper School Band doesn't seem like a demanding class, it takes years of practice to fine tune their craft. Mr. Hough, the conductor of the Upper School Band, remarked in an interview that many of his musicians have been playing since their youth. Mr. Hough is a seasoned conductor with 13 years of experience; he is sufficiently prepared to lead the US Band.
Musicians like Austin Cantrell and David Li have excelled under Mr. Hough’s leadership due to their hard work and private lessons outside of school. Most of the Upper School Band got their start in the 5th grade due to a requirement by the school and have played ever since.
However, some students take a gap year from band, whether it be from a schedule conflict or temporary loss of interest. Student who have scheduling conflicts usually take private lessons to maintain their skill. Students who completely abandon the band for a year usually do not pursue private lessons, but if they return they have to recuperate to their past skill level and then more to keep up with the advances of the band.
So far, the band has only performed for the first half of football games as Pep Band. The Pep Band is a mandatory extracurricular for the band members not on the football team. The Pep Band plays instrumentals and classic fight songs for the Friday football games. They usually stick to songs like "The Fight Song", "The Hey Song" and "Sweet Caroline". Mr Hough describes how "for the most part we keep the same tunes for all the games; however, we do add tunes from time to time." They have added a couple songs like "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy and "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky for the homecoming game.
They will kick off their performing season on December 9th when they have their winter production. Right now the Upper School Band is practicing multiple songs for the Winter Concert such as "Earthdance", "Nevermore" and "Simple Gifts". "Earthdance" uses some "organic earth sounds." "Nevermore" is a piece written around the "Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe and "Simple Gifts" is a piece that "pays homage to traditional shocker music."
An Orchestra of Young Men and Women
Upper School Band members perform during football game.
Photo courtesy of the PDS Athletic Department