With a packed audience, band hosted the Rhapsody in Blue concert on Friday, Dec. 6. Different sections of the band played songs ranging from “Let it Snow”  to “The Raider’s March.” 

Jazz I started off the night with the performance of “The Little Drummer Boy” in front of the stage. Each section member wore a Santa hat, and some members performed solos. The flute section followed with “Dancing Queen” in the back corner.

“It was interesting to see how surprised the audience looked after one performance ended and then turning their heads immediately to watch another one happen in a different part of the auditorium,” freshman Sophia Federman said. 

Each section has section leaders who arranged their own music, as the sheet music for songs did not exist for specific types of instruments.  Junior Quinn Conde arranged the piece “Married Life” from the movie “Up” for the clarinet section.

“You have to consider the timing, difficulty, what sections to play, how to link them together and how to assign the parts to each person,” Conde said. “I ended up going through five drafts before the final version was passed out.”

Other featured performances before intermission included the percussion section’s execution of  “Catching Shadows” by Ivan Trevino. The marimba was the central instrument in the piece, although several other instruments accompanied as well. During intermission, several students presented a skit where they sang “The Coke Song,” a song that the Kupermans played in college when they were in a band called “Cutaway.” 

“It was fun to play something they were in, and we got the whole audience to laugh along with us,” senior Dominic Diatzikis said. 

The second half of the concert showcased pieces like “The Hobbit,” played by the tuba section, and an Aladdin medley from the classic Disney movie, performed by the trumpet section. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was performed as a piano solo by sophomore Matt Hurley. 

The last number of the night was “Danzas Cubanas” by Robert Sheldon, performed by the wind ensemble on stage, including solos by Diatzikis, junior Maggie Taylor and senior Jonathan Robbins. As a surprise, the night ended with the entire marching band encircling the auditorium, performing their first act from their halftime marching show. 

“This rhapsody felt like my best one of the four years that I’ve had it. I thought I would be sad, but I made a lot of great memories,” Diatzikis said. “It felt right that this is how my last show went.”