“This year’s Pops Concert was the best of all that we have ever had!” Mr. Hollers said.

The music that was performed at this year’s concert ranged from cartoons to Broadway Musicals to movie theme songs. All of the participants wore their music t-shirts and jeans. The parents of PHS students donated five dollars to get into the show, which earned the music program about $1,300 to use for fieldtrips and other non-school paid items. The bleachers were full with families and friends who were ready and excited to see the show.

The concert was held on Monday, February 28th, 2011 in the PHS Gym. The Jazz Band began the concert with attitude and popular upbeat songs that wowed the audience, including a Blues Brothers Revue. The Concert and Symphonic Bands performed cartoons’ themed songs. The Concert Band played Cartoon Symphony which had the “Family Guy” theme song in it, which was a favorite with the crowd. The bands did a fantastic job, from my point of view!

Both orchestras—Concert and Chamber—followed the bands with toe-tapping Irish themed songs. One of the songs that the Concert Orchestra performed was American Gaelic, which started the orchestra portion of the night. The Chamber Orchestra performed a song called The Lord of the Dance.

“Both orchestras did a great job. The Concert Orchestra did well, and the dynamics of the Chamber Orchestra were amazing! Both of the orchestras were appreciated by the audience!” said Mariah Anderson, a violinist from Concert Orchestra.

The choirs—Concert and Madrigals—were combined, and sang The Phantom of the Opera Medley. Ms. Harrell had the crowd laughing with her apology for miscuing the choir and having them start over. After they sang, someone in the audience exclaimed, “Wow!” right before the whole audience started cheering. They also sang a 60’s song called Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, where some of the choir participants put on wigs, sunglasses, and etcetera to contribute to the 60’s vibe. The combined choirs gave a very eye-opening performance.

For the finale of this year’s Pops Concert, the Chamber Orchestra and Symphonic Band performed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The performance was so great that it got a standing ovation from the audience!

My impression of the night, as a participant being in Concert Choir, was that the crowd enjoyed all of the performances; all of the musicians did a great job, the sound was amazing and the concert showed our school spirit and it was fun to see everyone wearing their music t-shirts and jeans. I would like to thank TUSD for keeping the music program and will hope that they keep the program going even in these economically tough times.