Monday, March 18, the RBHS Concert Band performed their pre-festival concert in the Performing Arts Center Monday, March 18. Five different bands performed: symphonic band, wind symphony, the brass and woodwind choirs and percussion orchestra. Friends and family members filed into the PAC to watch the students perform. Of course, there are always those who enjoy performing more than others.

“I don’t exactly enjoy performing in front of crowds, simply because there is a lot of pressure to get it right.” Freshman Peter Popescu said. “I do enjoy the fact that I get to share the music I’ve been working on with all my friends and family.”

“I’m quite the opposite from Peter,” Sophomore Brent Brightwell said, “I love performing in front of big crowds, it makes me feel accomplished and proud of myself when everybody starts clapping, and i love being able to show off my skills and talents to the people around. plus if you’re performing for a big crowd, if you mess up a little bit, you can just play it off and nobody will notice. no piece is ever perfect but the audience doesn’t know that”

Concert band began practicing after it’s winter holiday concert in December.

“We’ve been preparing these pieces every since after our holiday concert.” Brightwell said. “The preparing process isn’t too hard, just come to class, practice your music, and come to an early morning rehearsal every once in a while.”

The event is not the only commonality that has drawn these musicians together, for many the love for what they do has inspired them to continue their music career at RBHS. The pre-festival event allows them to continue to indulge in new pieces through the fine arts programs.

“My favorite thing about band is, even though it seems obvious, the music. I love hearing the different sounds and rhythms and feel proud knowing that I created them.” Brightwell said.  “Music is a language that everyone in the world speaks. Somebody over in Japan or Austria will hear music just the same way as we do, even though we speak completely different languages, and I think that that’s beautiful. There’s a quote I already think back to when I play by Hans Christian Andersen, ‘where words fail, music speaks’.”

The band program will play Thursday, March 21 in the large ensemble festival in Mexico, MO.