001That's good. Bye. Amen. What is It's just so sound. You Hello. Good morning. chance. Yeah. do something. Okay. Hey kids right there. Bless the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. >> Is it Come on. Good evening. >> Welcome to our annual spring concert. Our annual spring concert is the premier performance for our concert band and it is also the capstone for our senior bandsmen who have been participating in the band program for a number of years. Here are a few reminders about concert etiquette. Please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices prior to the beginning of the concert. No food or drink is permitted in the auditorium at any time. Please only enter or exit the auditorium between song selections. Please do not enter while the ensemble is performing. Applause is a standard way of showing appreciation
002for what was just performed by each ensemble. Please only applaud at the end of each song selection. The program for this year's concert is digital. Please feel free to scan the QR codes displayed on the clear touches here to access tonight's program. about the performers. This evening concert will feature the Greensville County High School um concert band, which is made up of student musicians in grades 8 through 12. These student musicians have been playing their instruments for two to five years, and they continue to cultivate their musicianship through various ensembles such as marching band, pep band, concert band, and small ensembles. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Janelle Franklin and I be will be presenting Thawwin. Thawwin is composed by Kazuki Shimoto, a Japanese composer. In January 2024, he wrote the following poem
003about this piece. Snow continues to fall forever in the freezing cold. Everything is closed off by the snow and cold. When the snow begins to melt, the long awaited spring arrives. When the melting of the snow, everything that have been closed up by the snow begins to move. The earth, rivers, fields, flowers, and life. It gradually becomes full of life. Please enjoy thin composed by Kazuki Shimoto. Here we are. God. Hello. How are you? Up it up. Good evening. I am Kamaj Walker and I will be introducing our second piece composed by Philip Susa the Thunderer. This piece was initially dedicated to the Knights Templar of Washington DC and is thought to be named after the London Times which was coined as the Thunderer at the time. The march also happened to be one of
004his wife's favorite pieces of all time. It second strand includes music taken from Soua's 1886 publication here sir which he weaves counter tunes from clarinets and trombones. Over the courses of decades this march has become part of the musical cannon of women's bands across the United States of America composed by March King John Philips Soua. Please enjoy the thunderer. Yeah. Where are you? Downing down down down down down. Heat. Heat. I do. Good evening. My name is Jada Franklin and I'll be presenting the song Lakraita Tango. In 1916, Rodriguez composed Lakum Prasita which was first played in the old cafe La Heralda later becoming the Tango Museum in Monteo Uruguay. The title translates to the little parade and it is considered one of the most famous hangovers of all time. Listen as the arranger Walters
005uses the brass from bombastic tension, the woodwinds as orchestral strings and percussion to build the Latin groove. Please enjoy this Latin piece. Lakum parita Hallelujah. Amen. Heat. Heat. Oh hey. One more. All right. Good evening. >> Good evening. First and foremost, um I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and supporting this band program. Um a lot of times you see, you know, you see the marching band out on the at the football games and in our in the parades and everything and you see our pep band at basketball games and things of that nature. But the thing that you'll hear a lot of directors say, a lot of band directors say is that it where it matters is here in concert band. This is where the learning happens. This is where the learning
006happens. Something I tell the kids is the learning happens in concert band when you're in that seat. All right? Marching band, pep band, that's where the performance happens. That's where you get to be a show showman. Here's where you get to be a musician. And so, um, I want to thank you all once again for coming out to support these young musicians, what they do, especially in a community like ours. And I'm saying that as an Emporia native, for those who don't know me, my name is Malik Turner. I am the director of bands here at Graceville County High School. Um, but saying this as an an Emporia native, um, the arts here matter in a small town like ours. Um, the arts matter. Whether it's through music, through painting, through drawing, through theater, through
007dance, no matter what, the arts matter. We consume the arts every single day. Whether you're in the restaurant, whether you're at the movie theater, wherever you go, the arts are around. And it doesn't happen without the fine arts of, you know, education. And so, um, before I continue, just please give these these young people a round of applause. Now, our program this year is is a little condensed. You know, I this year I went in and I said, "Hey, I uh you know, I think the high school's going to hold it down this year." The high school and and have they held it down? Have they held it down? Um we we get to have fun up here. We get to have fun up here, man. Um, I I I come down here not only
008to congratulate the entire band, but to also recognize some folks in the band. I have to recognize uh this very passionate group. When I when I became the band director here at Greensville County High School in 2023, these guys were sophomores. Some of them they were in their second year in this band, some of them the third, some of them their first. Um, and I I have to recognize these folks. And this is the class of 2026. If you are a member of the class of 2026, can you please stand? That is Miss Michaela Andrews on Piccolo. Miss Jada Franklin on clarinet, Miss Janelle Franklin on alto saxophone, Mr. Nathaniel Tucker on trumpet, and Mr. Kamaj Walker back in percussion over here. Um, like I said, some of these some of these guys, they were
009already in the band under u my predecessor, Dr. Sean Battton. Um, and the the the honest to god truth is this. Um, they made that first year one of the easiest, you know, transitions ever. These guys and those who came before them, they made it the easiest transition. And um I I'm not, you know, I'm not old enough to be anyone's father, but I am old enough to be like a big brother. Um and these are, you know, like my little siblings, and they come to me about anything. To have that trust between us is I mean, I treasure it every single day. Um they they catch me when I'm wrong, but they also they're the same group that when something does go wrong, they're the first ones, Mr. Turner, and they handle it. And
010um you know, I'm going to miss these guys. I'm going to miss these guys. Um there this band program and and raising it up and building it up really truly is not anything without the class of 20 26. Please give them another round of hand. Um someone I feel like I would be remiss not to mention, she is not she's on the stage, but she's not clear like she's not visible to you all on the stage, but I'm gonna ask her to come out. Uh Christina, for those who don't know, this is Miss Christina Moran. Uh she is currently a junior and um she has been this is her second second year as manager, right? I the the reason I question that is because like it doesn't feel like it's her second year. She does
011her job so well that it doesn't feel it feels like she's been doing this for years. Um, and so I have to mention her because she she's like my right hand all day long. When I need something done real quick, an emergency pops up, Christina's on it. And I mean on it. And so please give a round of applause for this awesome. All right. Um, do I have any band boosters? Any band boosters in the crowd? If you are a band booster for the Greensville County High School band program, please stand at this time. You can be current, you can be an alumnest. Uh the the same sentiments that I give Christina, I have to give to the band boosters. Um especially during march band season, um they know firsthand it it gets it gets
012real. It gets really real. Um, from things being needing to be pinned up to an emergency, do this, take this, water, all of this. Um, transporting things, these guys are the next in line. All right? And they they hold down this band program with pride, just like these kids do. So, please give them another round of applause. Um, if you are not a band booster, but you just happen to be a parent, a guardian, family, friends of anybody on this stage, please stand up. Hey parents, look, you know, it's it's been a long time coming since beginning. I'm just saying. And y'all remember what Hey, you remember what Began Band was like, huh? Y'all remember they they took that instrument home and they sounded like a lot of different things, you know. But hey, I
013I have to commend all the parents uh you know, who support these these kids and want to see them build and and and become proficient at this thing, man. It can pay for so much later down the road. Um college and so on and so forth. uh and the the amount of opportunities it opens up is immense. Immense. So, please continue to support these these students, man. All right. And lastly, um I just I have to give my special thanks um to my my my GCPS uh family. Uh that's, you know, all the way from our acting superintendent uh Dr. Farson, um our principal, uh Dr. Posie James, um the principal at EWY Middle School, Doc, uh Missp person, um and the rest of our staff that make things like this happen and make things
014like this, uh easy for me. Um so please give them a round of applause. Now, I know it was a quick one. It it was a quick one, but we have one more piece for you all. Um, and our final senior of the night, Miss Michaela Andrews, one of my instrument captains, uh, is going to tell you all about it. Michaela, >> good evening. My name is Michaela Andrews and I will be presenting Skyward Spirits, a micro symphony. This micro symphony includes four movements that take the listener on a voyage in the sky. The first movement, Takeoff, is a short sonata that is introduced with a brass fanfare and woodwin flourishes that invite listeners to soar as the music paints pictures of feathers catching the sunlight and the breezes that beckon onward. The second movement,
015under the wing, is a slower movement that offers listeners a serene refuge moving with deliberate deliberate grace. The third movement, cloud burst, is a scarzo juke and Italian that evokes the unpredictable wimps of nature. This movement navigates through tumultuous skies with shifting mixed meters, capturing the erratic dance of raindrops and windless. The fourth and final movement, Blue Skies, immediately launches with a rhythmic melody reminiscent of Percy Grers's take on English folk songs. The journey culminates with the opening fanfare, bringing the listeners full circle in a celebration of fun, remembrance, and a jubilant leap into the vast endless horizon. Please enjoy Gerard Gerard Hall's scoward spirits. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Oh yeah. I love to me. Hallelujah. Shalom. Wonderful. Hey, hey, hey. glory. Clover Heat. Heat. Heat. Oh my god. Oh, you know. Heat. Heat.
016I told you we had one more for you. Um, once again, uh, I want to thank you all for coming out. Um, our next event will feature the marching band, a good preview of the 2026 season. I'm excited. And once you see that band march through those gates, I promise that you will be too. I will see you on April 31st. Have a good night.