Students of the St. Louis High School band held the first senior concert showcase, March 5. What made this concert different was the seniors choosing the songs instead of Mr. Lawhorne.
The whole concert had each and every band class playing many songs chosen by the seniors. The concert opened up with the jazz band playing two tunes, followed by steel band playing several songs, and closed with the concert band rocking out old-time classics. The state qualified solo & ensemble groups and duets also played before the steel band hit the stage. Overall, this was the second concert played by all bands from SLHS this year.
Senior Liv Good, a member of the concert and steel band, remarked, “I wanted to give a speech just to thank all the important people in our lives, the band members around us, and mostly Mr. Lawhorne. We really wanted to do a Shark Bait chant for the last time, and felt that Mr. Lawhorne was the right person to do it. It felt amazing to be in the spotlight and feel recognized for everything in the last past seven years. Everyone was watching us and it felt so good and really happy about everything.”
The seniors wanted to do the Shark Bait chant as it was something Mr. Lawhorne used to do with his elementary school students. Letting it happen one last time brought a flood of emotions to the seniors.
Senior Rowan Harris, a member of the concert band, expressed her feelings in regards to the concert. According to Harris, “When we were going through the ballot for the chosen songs, I chose ‘Paranoid’ because it’s like my favorite song I liked when we played it in marching band. Though performing for the solo and ensemble was very relieving at the concert. Before the concert when we practiced, we kind of didn’t listen to each other and we didn’t follow each other. It was really rewarding to play it for a huge crowd and have it sounding good.”
Even though the senior concert highlighted the seniors for the night, the POPS Concert, May 14, will be the last concert of the season. The jazz band will also travel to Alma College to participate in the Jazz Festival while the steel band will travel to New Philadelphia in upcoming months.
