February is the time of love thanks to Valentine’s Day. There’s another type of love in the air at James Buchanan High School—the love of music.
Planning for the Rocket Band’s “I Love Music” concert starts as far back as November at the end of marching season. Students received a selection of music, which was narrowed down as the concert approached. Even though the Band works on the music every day from the end of marching season, the band director, Mrs. Sheryl Deike (Faculty), chose to fill the February concert with easy music because it runs the risk of being snowed out and cancelled.
“My February concert is different from my May concert,” said Deike. “My February concert, if it gets snowed out, you know, I don’t want to put a lot of time and effort into music that we don’t get to play.”
The February 14, 2019 “I Love Music” concert had a total of four songs, all of which came from a movie, musical, or TV show. The concert opened with a medley of songs from The Lion King, including “Circle of Life,” “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” “Hakuna Matata,” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”
“I try to pick things that we kind of enjoy playing, nothing really heavy that’s fun and enjoyable for the crowd that comes out,” Deike said.
The crowd is something Deike always takes into account when choosing music. She doesn’t choose classical pieces that are so “off the wall” that the audience wouldn’t recognize them or enjoy it, hence the inclusion of The Lion King.
“I ask the seniors if there’s a song they would like to bring back,” said Deike, “or a couple songs that they would like to bring back, kind of like their finale.”
“Selections from Phantom of the Opera” (dubbed “Phantom” for short by the band) is another piece loved by the Band. It was also the song that the graduating class of 2019 chose to bring back. It serves as a swan song of sorts, a callback to their time as sophomores, when they last performed it. The piece, like “Lion King” is a medley of songs from the musical, The Phantom of the Opera. It included the titular number and the famous scream when the Phantom removes his mask, this year performed by Zach Slodysko (11).
“It was exhilarating,” said Slodysko when asked what it was like doing the scream. “I felt like a little kid again.”
Bringing back childhood memories with medlies such as “The Lion King” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” as well as high school memories for upperclassmen with “Phantom,” the band gave a lovely performance at their February concert, despite being at a disadvantage due to two snow days prior to the performance.
