Quiet Tuning to Thunderous: MHS Band hosts Winter Concert
MHS Band performing at the 2021 Christmas Parade.
MHS Band at their 2023 Spring Concert.
By ANNABELA LOPEZ
The Tower
Chairs scraped.
Instruments tuned.
Music stands propped up.
The lights faded.
The spotlight bright
One school.
One band.
One night to be heard.
Manteca High schools’ band is scheduled to have a winter concert on a December16th, set int the Mulvihill Theatre, admission free, 43 students skilled and warmed up to play their hearts out for the audience at 6:30 p.m.
Band director Cody Marchetti and his 43 students have been preparing physically and mentally for this day to make sure the audience enjoy themselves. For every concert, all the songs played are different from the ones before. No concert is ever repetitive and is always exciting to listen to.
“These band specific concerts are all new music,” Said Marchetti, “we're showing everybody something different and we're practicing and doing things differently.”
The band’s focus is to make sure all their hard work is paid off and is shown. It’s not a football game where they repeat the same pieces again for hours; this is a concert, with six pieces, played by all grades and skill levels.
With concert performances it’s all about getting down to the last detail. Which means pressure to make sure it sounds the greatest for the viewers. Every queue, every note, and every direction. The slightest mistake can be heard, especially within a live audience. This clearly means the performers are nervous and focused on getting everything right. It pushes them to practice harder and drive to make this winter concert better than the one before. Band member Anthony Garcia states before a performance he just listens to music, stays quiet, and focuses on the concert.
People learn instruments and their school’s band not only for the music but the connections within the room they practice in. Band directors and music teachers enjoy sharing their love for music with students and teaching them along the way, it reminds them why they enjoy teaching and music so much.
“It makes me really happy and it's nice to see when I'm able to provide students with that same opportunity,” Marchetti states, “and see the same reactions from them that I had.”
With all the stress and the drive to keep performing keeps the students because of the people they meet within the band. Having someone who has the same interest and can understand the process of it all is the cherry on top when you’re able to play the one instrument you love.
"I enjoy the friends you make, the activities you get to do, and just the memories you get to make inside the band room,” Garcia said.