The Bearden Band is preparing for their annual winter concert Friday.
After their impressive halftime performances during the football season, the student musicians are excited to enter the competition realm in the spring, making the winter concert an introduction to the season.
Senior Abbigail Passafiume and junior McKenna Webb have been members of the band for the entirety of their years at Bearden. Both of them believe in the importance of the timing of events throughout the year in band.
“The football season I think went really well for us as a group, and also the community felt a lot better than it has in all four years of being here,” Passafiume said.
Added Webb: “We did a good job of doing team building.”
For the band, the experiences and practice from the halftime performances carries over to a more successful concert season.
“That definitely was a good [warmup] for the Christmas season because our sections have gotten better,” Webb said.
The preparation for this concert begins as soon as football season ends. The band begins picking out music and practicing until a level of mastery is reached.
“We sight read a bunch of stuff, and then we go through and figure out which songs we like the most,” Passafiume said.
Added Webb: “A lot of it is repetition, just playing through the same thing until you get it.”
Perfection of the pieces they are playing is what Passafiume and Webb pursue every time they perform, and the Christmas Concert helps with that by giving them songs they are drawn to, making practice more enjoyable.
“I’m looking forward to the song ‘Thawing’ because the concept is that it is supposed to imitate what the actual thawing of winter sounds like,” Webb said.
Added Passafiume: “I really like ‘Holy Night, Silent Night’ which is a slow piece based off of those songs. It’s more melodic of a piece, and I think the chord structures in it are just really beautiful.”
At the upcoming concert, the eighth graders from West Valley Middle School will be collaborating with Bearden’s band for a song. This will provide experience for the middle schoolers along with a bit of excitement for the band and the viewers attending.
“I’m excited to hear the eighth graders because we play with them every year, and it’s exciting to see what they sound like,” Passafiume said.
Both Passafiume and Webb are looking forward to the concert, the upcoming competition season, and what is in store for the Bearden Band.
The holiday concert will be at Bearden at 7 p.m. this Friday.