It happens but once a year, but that being said, it’s here!

The Spring Concert for Stanley-Boyd is coming to town March 21 at Stan ley-Boyd High. Here’s a preview of what concertgoers can expect, courtesy of band director Devon Wenndt and choir director Jan Mickelson.

“The high school band’s focal piece for this year’s spring concert will be taken from a suite of Scottish music called ‘Hymn of the Highlands,” Mickelson wrote. "Built around the traditional Scottish tune “Highland Cathedral”, it challenges the members of a wind band to mimic bagpipe music. This is a very challenging piece of music that features several soloists.”

Shifting in turn to the mid dle school band, director Wenndt had the following to share.

“The two middle school bands are both experimenting with pieces that explore playing in minor keys,” he said. “The seventh and eighth-grade band will feature ‘Armory,’ a driving piece with a lot of energy and in-your-face percussion. The sixth-graders will play 'Warp Speed,' which will be their first time performing something as fast as 150 beats CONCERT

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per minute," Wenndt made known of the Spring Concert to come.

As to the fifth-grade band, Wenndt said that, “the 5th grade band will perform ‘Legend of Mekong,' a piece portraying a dramatic journey along the mystical Mekong River which flows through Southeast Asia.

Shifting once again to high school concert choir, Mickelson shared that, "the high school Concert Choir has been focusing on an a cap- pella piece called 'How Can I Keep from Sing ing,’ written by Robert Lowry and arranged by Sarah Quartel. This group has also been work ing on ‘Baba Yetu’ written by Christopher Tin

and arranged by Roger Emerson. ‘Baba Yetu’ is the Swahili-language setting of 'The Lord's Prayer.’” As for middle school choir, Mickelson shared that, "the middle school choir will perform "She Sings" written by Amy Feldman Bernon, "Ubi Caritas”, written by Victor C. Johnson, and “Rhapsody”, written by Rollo A. Dilworth. The middle school choir has been concentrating on choral blend, concert etiquette and musical controls.”

Regarding the overall benefits of music with other activities, the two share that, "Music and sports have many commonalities, not the least of which is the physical aspect. Just as athletes feel pressure to perform in their arena, musicians battle those same emotions. Just as athletes practice to prepare themselves for any given situation, musicians rehearse for countless hours to perfect their craft. Just as athletes experience some days where everything clicks and others where the body is uncooperative, musicians must adjust to those elements as well.”

As such, those who enroll in the music pro- gram at Stanley-Boyd can expect the following.

“A member of one of our ensembles learns the value of teamwork, but also the importance of independent performance,” Wenndt and Mickelson wrote. "Our students learn how to manage their emotions when faced with success, failure, and all points in between (often experiencing all within a very brief amount of time). Musicians get to experience the joy of creating something beautiful (and admittedly, sometimes not so beautiful depending on the day) and take pride in being a part of something bigger than themselves.”

The hard work debuts March 21, at Stan –

ley-Boyd High School. Concert at 7 p.m.

Registering 37 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday, the space outside the south school entrance and area saw several inches of puffy white stuff fall down. Snow or no snow, though, the spring concert is due to debut this March 21 at 7 p.m. Photo by Joseph Back.