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Center, Glenwood musicians band together
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During the song “Electricity,” a group of eighth grade band percussionists managed a large container of water and a gong. The group hit the gong and then submerged it in water, and the sound was supposed to evoke the noise of an electrical brownout.
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Center Middle School director Steven Chambers (far right) asked the eighth grade band to arise so that he could thank them for their hard work.
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Percussionists Justin Metzel (rear) and Nico Ruggieri kept the beat for the middle school jazz ensemble.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .During the Boardman Middle School spring concert on April 14, the school’s jazz ensemble played a selection of song they had previously played during the high school jazz fest. Anthony Bruno (standing), who plays baritone saxophone, revisited a solo in “Bag’s Groove.”
By SARAH FOOR
Boardman Glenwood and Center Middle School bands celebrated months of hard work and musical growth with their spring concert on April 14.
Although Center and Glenwood each have their own bands, the concert focused on the skills of the Boardman Middle School Jazz Ensemble and the Eighth Grade Concert Band.
The jazz ensemble included members of both middle schools who gave their time in early morning practices to learn about jazz skills like syncopation and improvisation. During their concert, the ensemble played the selections “Bag’s Groove,” “Next in Line,” and “In the Mode,” which the group had played previously during Boardman High School Jazz Fest on April 5.
After a short break, the Concert Band gathered to play difficult and experimental selections, along with arrangements of recognizable scores and radio hits.
Glenwood band director Michael Shevock said middle school band directors strive to make their selections challenging but still fun.
“We work hard to find a nice variety. We skew toward current songs and selections, because the students really love to take it and make it their own,” Shevock explained.
The students played arrangements of Owl City’s “Fireflies,” the Black Eyed Peas tune “I Gotta Feeling,” and a selection of overtures from the movie series “Harry Potter.”
An experimental selection for the band was “Electricity,” a piece that was meant to capture the feeling of an electron zooming through a circuit.
For the song, the eighth-grade percussion students brought a gong they then submerged in a large container of water. The sound of the gong in the water evoked a brownout and the loss of electricity.
“We have a very talented group of eighth-graders that we’re sending to the high school next year,” Center middle school director Steven Chambers shared. “The students are hard workers and wonderful musicians.”