The East County Select Band and Los Medanos College Concert Band played a joint concert together last Sunday. The East County Select Band is made up of instrumentalists from Deer Valley High School, Freedom High School, Liberty High School, Heritage High School, and Pittsburg High School.
The LMC band kicked off the concert with three pieces, Jubilation by Robert Ward as arranged Robert Leist, Tuba Concerto by Edward Gregson, and Moorside March Gustav Holst as arranged by Gordon Jacob. Tuba Concerto consists of three different movements, as Jonathan Seiberlich, a former LMC student, performed a solo in each section. Seiberlich wowed the crowd with his performance, but the rest of the LMC performance was sub par, according to some of the players.
LMC flute player Nicole Jackson said, “The first song was really off, the second song was decent, and the third song was just alright. I really don’t want to be mean about it, but our part of the concert wasn’t that great. I’m a little disappointed but not that surprised.”
Another member of the LMC band, percussionist Sucre Lopez, said, “Jubilation, the first piece…we as a band felt that it was a disaster to put it lightly. It seemed that when one of us missed a cue or read a rhythm wrong we couldn’t really recover from it and it showed in the performance.” He went off to add that he did not feel he did well. “I felt like I didn’t do a good job in this concert. Aside from Moorside March and the first two movements of Tuba Concert, I felt that I lost my ability to count, I can’t really explain it.”
The East County Select Band featured 54 musicians to LMC’s 35, which may explain the seeming lack of fullness to the LMC sound as a whole. The ECS band had two french horn players, two oboe players, a euphonium player and a piccolo player that the LMC band did not.
The ECS Band played three total songs, Parade of the Tall Ships by Jay Chattaway, Sea Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Of Sailors and Whales, which featured five different movements, by W. Francis McBeth.
First time ECS band member and current Heritage High School percussionist Jacob Caywood said, “I felt that we did good for the amount of rehearsal time we had as a whole (four times, two two-and-a-half hour practices, one five-and-a-half hour practice, and a one-hour dress rehearsal).” He added, “Personally, I feel like I did well. There were a few parts where I was nervous about not having enough rehearsal time, but once we started the piece it flowed.”
Caywood, however, did have some kind words for the LMC band, saying, “The LMC band did very good. When I closed my eyes it seemed like there was a band three times their size playing.”
The next concert is the LMC Guitar Concert, Monday, April 29, 7:30-9 p.m. Admission is free for everyone.
