The Dimond band wrapped up their musical season with their final spring concert on May 1.

All three of Dimond’s band participated in this year’s spring concert; Jazz, Concert and Symphonic.

The concert started off with Jazz band’s performances. They opened “Harlem Air Shaft” by Duke Ellington, transcribed by David Berger.

Matthew Kelliher, a sophomore at Dimond performed a solo during “Harlem Airshaft”. “I love this song! I felt it was a great opening for the concert this year. I also loved playing the solo.”

Jazz Band also played “Yeah, Right” by Kris Berg, “Libertango” by Astor Piazzolla, “Stolen Moments” by  Oliver Nelson and “Absoludicrous” by Gordon Goodwin.

Concert band was the next to play. The band had more pieces than they usually do at the spring concert due to the earthquake earlier this fall.

“Concert Band doesn’t have many opportunities to play throughout the year so I added more songs to the program,” said Jason Edwards, the band director at Dimond.

Concert Band played “Overture De Argentina” by James Ployhar, “Tundra” by William Owens, “Romanesque” by James Swearingen, “Saints on Parade”  by James Black and “Primal Dances” by Brian Balmages.

“I was very impressed by concert band’s performance tonight. I really liked how they played “Tundra”. They had pretty good tone and intonation on that piece,” said Senior Devine Mendez, who plays bass clarinet in Symphonic Band.

Symphonic Band was the last to play at this year’s spring concert. To start off the performance, Edwards calls up all the seniors in the band and awards them with roses. It is a tradition that has been done at the spring concert for years.

This year’s seniors include Tiffany Feeny, Shayla Blood, Nicole Reiser, Devine Mendez, Anna Ratcliffe, Ben Stream, Emi Soldwedel, Eduardo Uy, Stone Sara, Roman Marroquin, Tucker Graves, Roland McWhite, Donavan Price, Tim Tolen and Elizabeth Hancock.

Symphonic Band began with with “Somewhere” from “West Side Story”. It was a great soft opening for their pieces.

Next they played “Sonata Pian’E Forte” by Giovanni Gabrieli.  This piece is a Renaissance piece written in 1557. The title translates to “loud and soft” and the Symphonic Band played it accordingly.

Next the Symphonic Band played “Excerpts from: The Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky. This piece was very different from the others played. The original song was performed in a ballet back in the 1920s in Paris.

During the concert, Edwards explained how the piece caused an uproar during its time. Symphonic Band did to the best of their ability to put on a haunting performance.

Next they played “The Toy Trombone” by Warren Govington. This song had solos from Roman Marroquin, Alaina Bentley, Brennon Lubken and Dean Moriwaki.  The song was conducted by the band’s drum major, Zach Williams.

The Kelly/Parcel and the Neher awards were presented next. The Kelly/Parcel award is presented to a senior who showed excellent musicianship throughout their four years in band. This  award was presented to Roman Marroquin, Symphonic Band’s president.

The Neher award is awarded to a senior who had amazing spirit and attendance to  extracurricular band activities. This year it was awarded to Ben Stream, tenor saxophone player.

Symphonic Band wrapped up the spring concert with “Encanto” by Robert W. Smith, a light and uplifting song.

“I’m really pleased how the concert went,” said Roman Marroquin, Band President. “I’m going to miss band so much when I graduate. It gave me the opportunity to learn an instrument and to be a part of something bigger at Dimond.”

The seniors all pitched in and bought Edwards a new chair and gave it to him at the end of the concert to show their admiration for him at the end of four years.