DV High School Band makes some noise

Jazz, song, original compositions highlight program, By Kimberly Montalbano WESTFALL — Music permeated Delaware Valley High School’s hallways on Dec. 14 at the annual band concert, under the direction of Lance Rauh. The jazz band headed the concert, starting off with a very hot performance of “Muy Caliente” by Scott Stanton. Following a brief introduction, the jazz ensemble continued accompanied by featured soloist Jaime Wright singing “Blue Skies.” Next, vocalist Cristina Estepa stepped to the mic to sing “How About You” with the jazz ensemble in tow. The gang continued with “Winter Wonderland,” showcasing various players. Estepa traveled to the stage again to perform “That Old Black Magic,” her final song of the night. After “The Nearness of You,” arranged by Mark Taylor, Wright came to the front of the auditorium to sing “All of Me,” which concluded the night’s singing. “Tune for T.D.” by Matt Vashlishan, was composed for the 2009 COTA Cats, a competition for music students. The jazz ensemble concluded their performance with “September,” an old Earth, Wind and Fire favorite. The jazz band highlighted many of their players that night, including Janae Shoup on Alto Saxophone, Emily Fox on the tenor saxophone, Tim Gillies, Janine Feakins and Ian Waleck on the trumpets, Bobby Paul on the trombone, Dustyn Hines on drums and Stevely Pierre who played the piano. “I like to consider the jazz band the more professional group, they go out and play a lot,” Director, Lance Rauh said. “We’ve already played for the library benefit and the Veteran’s Day program along with Mr. Burns and the Junior Historians. They do a lot more playing outside of school. They’ve come a long way since the first week of school.” The 9/10 Concert Band took the stage after a brief pause, and performed what Rauh called “basic or intermediate compositions,” including “West Salem Winds,” by Ed Huckeby, “Shipston Prelude,” by Stephen Bulla and “Fortress Variations,” a more challenging piece, by Tim Waters. “[The 9/10 band] played better than I had anticipated,” Rauh admitted. “We have two groups coming from two different schools as freshmen so to try and get them to play together, we give them their own portion of the concert. I was very pleased with them, they played nicely.” After another pause, the 11/12 concert band took the stage to perform “Concord,” by Clare Grundman,” “Laughing all the Way,” arranged by Larry McTaggart and “Pride of the Grenadiers,” by Robert Sheldon. Upon their concluding number, the 9/10 band returned for the Combined Concert Band portion of the night’s performance. The group played the “Ukranian Bell Carol,” “Patapan,” “Washington Post March,” “Selections from ‘Home Alone,’” and finished with a grand mix of “Christmas Festival,” for their finale. “Having the two groups, the 9/10 and 11/12, come together, there are obviously more students on the stage, and therefore the sounds a bit fuller, more powerful,” Rauh concluded.