By Mary-Justine Lanyon
It was standing room only in the multipurpose room at Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School. The occasion was the school’s spring concert.
As Charlotte Ford, the MPH music director, welcomed family and friends to the concert, she expressed her gratitude for their being there.
The Beginning Band members had already taken their places on the stage. Their excitement showed as they spotted their families in the audience and waved enthusiastically at them.
Following their performance, the Strings players stood to acknowledge the applause.
They played their first piece, Pirates of the Caribbean by Klaus Badelt, arranged by Michael Sweeney, with great enthusiasm. The second piece, The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin, arranged by Michael Story, was a fun piece that drew great applause.
The Beginning Band ended with the piece – The Tempest by Robert W. Smith – that Ford noted the Advanced Band had ended with at the fall concert. It was dark and stormy with great dynamics.
More than one audience member was heard to remark that these musicians had transitioned from playing notes to making music.
The Strings – which Ford said have doubled in size – then took the stage. They also played three pieces: Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi, arranged by Robert Longfield; Jurassic Park by John Williams, arranged by Robert Longfield; and Spring (from the Four Seasons) by Antonio Vivaldi, arranged by Richard Meyer. The soloist for Spring was Gavin Baker.
Finally, the Advanced Band took their places. Their first piece – music from Wicked by Stephen Schwartz, arranged by Michael Sweeney – drew thunderous applause from the audience, causing Ford to ask the band members to stand and take a bow.
Their second piece was a very spirited How to Train Your Dragon by John Powell, arranged by Johnnie Vinson. The final piece – Remember Me (from Coco) by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, arranged by Johnnie Vinson – featured baritone solos by Joseph Sanchez.
The two bands had participated in a festival in Redlands. Ford noted that the Beginning Band scored as high as the Advanced Band in sight reading. And the Advanced Band, she said, “crushed it. They got great feedback.”
The Advanced Band’s performance of Remember Me featured baritone solos by Joseph Sanchez.
She introduced two flutists who had played with the county honor band. She had recommended sixth-grader Kinsley Stehmeier for the band while eighth-grader Jonah Gonzales had to audition.
“Jonah placed in the top three of 80 to 100 flutes,” Ford told the audience.
At the end of the concert, she asked the eighth-graders to stand. Addressing the parents, Ford said, “You have raised some incredible people. They show up and give 100 percent. Thank you for supporting them.”
Audience member Dr. Paul Sevillano, the school superintendent, noted that MPH was able to use Prop 28 funds to purchase some new instruments, a fact confirmed by Ford. She added that 80 percent of her students borrow instruments from the MPH instrument library. Many of those, she said, were donated to MPH by the Arrowhead Arts Association.
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