By Anthony Ta
Piedmont Hills Music Department ended off the school year with their Instrumental Spring Concert. The event was held last Friday in the L-building from 7pm to 10pm.
Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Band all prepared similarly by having more intense practices during class and stricter rules on attendance. Mr. Ellis and Ms. Ray worked to bring the concert together to ensure that their students were ready to perform at their best.
This concert was more than simply a celebration of spring as it was the last performance with the seniors. During the whole night, the attendees were not only able to enjoy the beautiful and well prepared pieces, but most importantly, were able to hear senior Darian Nguyen’s touching story on how he came to love violin, his solo, and the seniors’ confession of gratitude towards Mr. Ellis and Ms. Ray. Roses were distributed out to all of the seniors during the last set, and gifts were presented to the teachers after each finished conducting their final groups.
On top of having a solo during Orchestra’s set of pieces, Darian delivered a heartwarming speech dedicating his drive to perform and do well as a violinist to his mother. He described how his mother took initiative in buying her own violin and following him through the highs and lows of learning to play. The audience was in awe once he finished the speech and the set when his mother went up to the stage and gave her son a bouquet of flowers, a kiss, and a hug.
Emotions continued to flow after his solo as seniors, Alina Doan and Jenna Mae Prado, delivered their speech of gratitude to Ms. Ray.
“I had 11 seniors in my Wind Ensemble and they were all 4 year students with me. They had a really nice year. The band played excellently well. We went on a great trip to Anaheim. I think it was a nice summing up of whole years’ experience on Friday. The seniors were a great contribution to our sound all year long and leadership too. They will definitely be missed. It was a great way to end the year,” reminisces Mr. Ellis.
Performing for the school is nothing new to the three groups. They’ve performed in the past with their winter and spring concerts as well as performing at festivals, Disneyland and competitions. “Next year I expect band to be different than this year, because there will be new classmates to play with and meet. I plan to roll along with it and see how it all goes,” says sophomore Andrew Dao.
The Legend Online 