Throughout the school year, Dimond High puts on many musical performances and plays, one of them being its Fine Arts Showcase.

The Fine Arts Showcase is different from its performance counterparts. Instead of one musical group, it includes all of the band, orchestra and choir classes within the Fine Arts Department.

Also, students in art classes can choose to display their work to the audience as they enter the auditorium.

The performance began with a cadence performed by the Concert Band percussion section.

“I love to listen to Concert Band. They performed very well,” said Alanna Ziegler, a junior in Swing Choir.

Next up was a piece from Dimond’s Jazz Band called “Ain’t She Sweet”, featuring the tenors and basses in Swing Choir.

“I love getting to work with Jazz Band. We never really get to work together on pieces, and when we do it’s so much fun,” said Dastzeni Tibbits, a junior in Swing Choir.

After that was a cello and bass duet performed by Junior Isaac Backa and Senior Wayne Koelsch, both in Dimond’s orchestra program.

Following was a beautiful guitar solo, Guardame las Vacas, performed by Shockley Searcy, a freshman in Symphonic Band, who usually plays horn.

“I didn’t even know Shockley played the guitar!”said Ben Stream, a senior in Symphonic Band. “ He is very talented.”

Another performance included a flute solo from Lara Searcy, a junior in Symphonic Band. She has recently won the Anchorage Youth Symphony concerto competition.

To wrap up the first half of the showcase, Choir girls performed a dance to “Loimata Ole Fiafia” , a traditional Polynesian folk song.

“This added an element to the Fine Arts Showcase that I had never seen before,” said Tiffany Feeny, a senior in Symphonic Band. “It was very cool to see a dance from another culture.”

The second half of the Fine Arts Showcase began with two combined choir pieces, “Blue Moon” and “Give us Hope”, accompanied by Junior Kaden Cook.

Also accompanied by Cook was the Combined Orchestra’s rendition of the Disney cult classic, “Colors of the Wind”.

“I love this song so much!” said Sophomore Harlie Lewallen.  “The orchestra & Kaden did a wonderful job.”

Dimond’s Concert Band performed “Amazing Grace” with a special bagpipe solo from Brady Byers, a Dimond alumni.

“It was really nice to see and hear him (Byers) on the bagpipes,” said Mr. Edwards. “I felt that was a nice surprise for everyone.”

Edwards’ third hour Symphonic Band played “Into the Summit!”, a lively song with an amazing soprano saxophone solo performed by Sophomore Ryan Dayley.

“This song is very fun to perform; it is excited and I enjoy my part. I also love Ryan’s solo,” said Sophomore Matthew Kelliher.

To end the showcase, all of Dimond’s Fine Arts Department came together and performed “The Song for the Unsung Hero”, originally written as an appreciation song for teachers.

“The last piece turned out better than I expected,” said Savannah Moore, a senior in  Swing and Concert Choir. “It was very beautiful.”

“This year especially, I was happy with the variety of solo and small groups. I was also very happy that the individual bands got to perform on their own. We also had a very good audience turnout, although I’m hoping for even more next year.

“The concert brought in almost $1500 which is just under $500 per group. (band, orchestra, choir) Overall, very successful concert,” Edwards said.