Tayah Lee
On
Thursday, 10 September, at 7:45am, the fifty-five high school concert band
students gathered in front of two bright buses on Upper Field with their
luggage and instrument cases in hand, ready to begin their journey.
"I'm so excited!" squealed
Hannah Graves (12), just as she had done for the past several days.
Graves's energy and enthusiasm made
sure the students and chaperones were awake, but each already had his or her
own excitement built up for the long awaited Massed Band Festival in Bangkok,
Thailand.
Although one month is a short period
of time for preparation, the band had been dedicated to practicing and
rehearsing the festival music every day during class and on students' own time
as well. Melodies and rhythms from the five pieces—“Flourish for Wind Band,” “Country
Gardens,” “Dusk, Voodoo,” and “Postcards from Singapore”—could be heard
emanating from the band room in the morning and after school.
"I
think that our hours of work and dedication beforehand really payed off because
we went [to the festival] with a really strong foundation," says Jarrod
Chang (11). "We could easily follow the directions that the conductor gave
us, so it really helped us with the transition to the massed band."
The journey to the festival in
Thailand consisted of many adventures and events on a four-hour bus ride to Hat
Yai, followed by a two-hour flight to Bangkok. Split up onto the two buses, students
slept, listened to music, took pictures, and played games. Other students
presented the group with riddles.
"I was totally confused by Jarrod's
riddles, but they turned out to be very, very, very stupid," complained
Sunny Kim (12), as most mind-boggling problems were revealed to be shockingly
simple.
Upon finally reaching Bangkok, the
group piled onto a double-decker bus and drove straight to dinner: an
all-you-can-eat buffet surrounded by a view of the city skyline in the Baiyoke
Tower. The meal was followed by enjoying the view from not only the tower's
peak on an outdoor, slow-rotating platform, but also through a glass elevator
that traveled to the base.
The next day and a half totaled to
nine hours of playing time during rehearsal sessions with the massed band on
the campus of The International School of Bangkok (ISB). The colossal band
consisted of 215 students from six different international schools, including
seven tuba players, twenty-six percussionists, thirty-five alto saxophonists,
fifty flutists, and twenty-eight trumpeters.
Dr. Erin Bodner, the guest conductor,
took these students from different schools, backgrounds, and talents, and
transformed them into one band with one sound to perform a grand concert.
As
the high school band director, Ms. Laura Danneker said, "There was
significant improvement over the course of a day and a half of rehearsals. The
first few practices were very rough; but gradually the sounds became more
unified, and everyone worked better together."
Freshman percussionist, Nicholas
Khor, said the following about the trip, "It was an amazing experience to
be able to bond with students from other schools and play music together."
As the Dalat high school band students made
their way back to their home-island, they brought with them more skills, new
experiences, and a greater appreciation for each other.
To bring closure to the great trip,
Graves reflected, "Guys, I'm so happy. This was so fun."
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