Concert band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Ensemble will perform their annual March concert this Thursday, at 7:30pm in the PAC.

“I’m excited to perform all of our songs because we’ve worked really hard on the music and I think we have prepared the songs really well,” Allie Mitchell, junior Wind Ensemble member, said. “My favorite song is ‘Flutter and Kick’ because of the really pretty and unique melody. The piece was also recently written and commissioned for our band. This will be one of the first times that it is played so I am excited to perform it.”

Flutter and Kick, commissioned by the Consortium for the Advancement of Wind Band Literature, was only written for a select number of bands within a elite league.  Roy D. Magnuson wrote it after he heard his son’s first heart beat on an ultrasound. The piece focuses on one main melody throughout the piece, but has random solos including the clarinet and flute and singing involved.

Wind Ensemble will be doing a repeat of their earlier concert at the University of Illinois, while Concert Band will play ‘Butterfly’s Ball’, ‘As Summer Was Just Beginning’, and ‘Mambo Perro Loco.’ Symphonic Band will perform ‘The Hive’, ‘A Child’s Embrace,’ ‘Exuberance,’ and ‘The Fairest of the Fair.’

“I’m most excited for Butterfly’s Ball,” Em Davison, freshman Concert Band member, said. “I am excited because we have worked really hard with the concert being our goal. I’m also the only French horn, so it’s fun seeing all my other friends in my section [at the concert].”

While this concert may only last one night, Davison believes that band is more rewarding than one performance. Before concert band season, Davison and other band members have a chance to participate in band camps, field trips to the elementary schools, and a district wide band festival.

“You learn how to work as a group and learn that every little person makes a huge difference. It’s kind of a theme throughout the year, [that] everyone means a lot. Band is so fun in high school and I wish people would think about that when they quit,” Davison said. “You make so many great friends and meet so many new people.”