SCHS band members put on their winter concert on Dec. 9, and performed many Christmas songs for their audience’s pleasure. As opposed to having only one concert per semester, Ryan Blankenship, the band director, chose to have two concerts. One happened in October, showing off multiple artists and tunes, while this concert had only Christmas music. 

“Everybody had a great time, specifically everyone that was in the band had a great time, and I think that it transferred over to the audience and definitely back in the percussion section, that’s where most of the fun is always had,” Blankenship said. 

The band did well with having more songs to learn, and the students were happy with the outcome of the concert. 

“I enjoyed the band’s concert. We did a lot more songs than we are used to this year, but I think we did well on all of them,” senior Katie Marvin said. 

Blankenship’s plan to add a second concert to the semester came with reasoning, as he wanted to be able to compete with other districts that have two concerts every semester. As a result, this gave more music to the band to learn as well as giving more experience to the students. 

“It’s always what’s next. We haven’t yet seemed to get bored seeing the same four tunes, cause imagine we get to August 20-something and say ‘here’s a christmas tune that we’re gonna play in December’ and that’s a long time from August to December to play the same four tunes, and that can get repetitive so we’ve just started pumping more music at the students,” Blankenship said. 

The band is a close-knit group of students that put a lot of effort and passion into what they do, and took the extra songs with pride. 

“It’s a community that can only be achieved by being in band since fifth grade, you can’t just join now, you won’t be able to talk to anyone, you won’t know what’s going on. It’s a unique community but a fun one,” Sophomore Andrew Schneider said.

The band is set to impress us more throughout the year, and for many years to come, as these students aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

“My favorite part about the band is the days leading up to the concert. Everyone goofing off, us trying our best to perfect the music before the concert, and playing the music the whole way through,” Marvin said.