High school concert delights audience

Sisters High School (SHS) music students gave a breath of freshness to all who attended their annual Spring Concert last Wednesday evening.

The band members and choral students did far more than perform. They entertained with twinkles in their eyes and a depth of musicality that far exceeded their years and experience.

The approximately 600 parents, family members and friends who gathered for the free event filled the high school's auditorium to almost three-quarter's capacity and responded with robust enthusiasm to each of the five groups who showed-off their talents. Approximately 130 students participated.

"It was really a great evening," said Principal Bob Macauley. "It was just so entertaining and so well done...."

Approximately 20 members of the SHS Concert Band opened the show with two uplifting arrangements, "Music from Far and Away" and "Anthem for Winds and Percussion."

Band director Jody Henderson told The Nugget that the decision was made early this year to divide the school's band into two groups. The concert group attracts students who want to participate in band but who do not want to work as hard, are often younger and/or who are not as fully developed musicians as those who audition for the symphonic band.

According to Henderson the smaller group atmosphere of the concert band exposes individual players more. When these developing players are filtered into the larger band, they tend to follow along more and allow more cultivated players to carry them along. With the concert band often one or two players have to carry a segment of the music, forcing them to do it on heir own.

"It's all them," said Henderson.

The SHS Jazz choir was the next group to show their stuff. Seven girls presented a stylized performance with mics in hand. They brought a unique voice to "Fever," "April in Paris," and "Straighten Up and Fly Right," moving the audience to tapping their toes and silently singing along.

Henderson's son Jared on bass joined the singers for their third song, "Straighten Up and Fly Right."

"He is quite a musician, and we feel very fortunate that he has come alongside of us," choir director Tara MacSween said.

Third to entertain was the SHS Concert Choir, a non-audition female group of about 25 singers. Speaking educationally about what the group has to offer its participants, MacSween said: "You get to do such great vocal work with that group with an all female group. We really get to talk about what the female voice does and train really specific things about their voice type."

Presenting three pieces in three foreign languages, Latin, Italian and German, the group performed to perfection without rehearsing for approximately a month.

"They were with me first and second trimesters, so they are doing this concert having not seen me for about a month," MacSween said. "They prepared this in the second trimester to present in the third. That's kind of how it works for scheduling. We haven't rehearsed."

Even though the group performed cold, no one would have ever known it.

Next, the SHS Chorale, consisting of 26 female and male singers, delighted the audience with four unique arrangements, including a piece that was sung in its native Nigerian tongue. Members of this audition group will be participating in the Central Oregon Music Educators Association (COMEA) competition in Bend on April 10. The event is a qualifier to attend the state competition later in the year. According to MacSween it's a goal of the SHS Chorale to advance to state this year.

The SHS Symphonic Band with 51 players brought down the house as it brought the evening to a close.

This week's guest artist-in-residence Niel DePonte said, "I thought they played well" (see related story page 5). DePonte told The Nugget that he was impressed to see such a large band at a school the size of Sisters High School.

"There's a substantial number of musicians in that group, and that was the first thing I noticed," he said.

Remarking on the symphonic band's performance Macauley said: "They nailed it. They were powerful. They're playing really at a high level right now."