The conductor was holding his hand out as a high chime sounded. As the audience and the band sat, waiting, the ringing continued. Finally, in a swift motion, the conductor curled his outstretched hand into a fist and beat it against his chest, directly over his heart.
Band’s final concert of the year was on Thursday, May 19. Under the advisement of MVHS’ new band teacher Rick Alegria, the concert this year was a Pops concert — a concert of popular, light classical pieces — featuring famous songs and selections from Broadway.
“I can’t express how proud I am of [Wind Ensemble’s] performance today,” Alegria said. “It’s been a challenging year… but they really pulled this together. If I had to go back 100 times to do it again, I would choose this particular time because things just fit together so well.”
In preparing for the concert, the first step was selecting what to play.
“The secret to being a band or orchestra instructor is choosing the right pieces,” Alegria said.
Since Symphonic Band had only three weeks between the CMEA festival and the Pops Concert, Alegria had to make certain time-saving adjustments. For example, one of the four songs chosen for the Pops Concert — Abracadabra by Frank Ticheli — was a song they had already practiced and played for the CMEA festival. Two others were relatively easy for Symphonic Band, and the final piece — selections from the musical Les Miserables — was the center of their focus for the three weeks leading up to the event.
“My favorite is Les Miserables,” said freshman Karthik Gurumayarappan, a bassoonist in Symphonic Band. “It’s just fun to play because there’s not as much just holding long tones.”
For Wind Ensemble’s portion, Alegria did not have to do all of the choosing. The students voted on what to play for two out of the four pieces, and they ended up picking Chicago and The King and I.
“Alegria gives more choice in the music,” Wind Ensemble clarinetist Namrata Subramanian said, comparing the previous few band directors. “He’s more accepting of our feedback and suggestions.”
For one of the pieces that Alegria chose himself, he chose Loch Lomond by Frank Ticheli as a calmer, slower-paced piece to balance out the other fast-paced pieces. The final piece, selections from Phantom of the Opera, was a unanimous choice. At the very start of the school year, the band had sight-read the arrangement and immediately fell in love. Now, at the final concert of the year, they could finally perform it.
But before Wind Ensemble could play their pieces, they had to wait for Symphonic Band to play theirs. Symphonic Band’s portion began with upbeat tunes with Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked, followed by their well-rehearsed piece Abracadabra. However, as Alegria emphasized his conducting gestures to transition from a fast-paced segment to a slower segment in Abracadabra, his hand flicked slightly too much to the side and his baton hit a clarinet’s music stand and flew out of his hand. Yet, with only a slight palm-up “well…” gesture, Alegria conducted the remainder of the song with his hands.
“I have a feeling that [this incident] is gonna follow me around for a while. But the thing is, for a lot of young bands, that is a recipe for disaster,” Alegria added. “They can just fall apart with that distraction. Honestly, I felt that they stepped up to the plate. It didn’t serve as a distraction. So in that respect, I’m very proud of them.”
Wind ensemble’s portion began without conducting. While Alegria stood still on the podium, a trumpet solo started off the Chicago arrangement. Then Alegria raised his hands, the other players raised their instruments and everyone joined in. After selections from Chicago, Wind Ensemble played Loch Lomond, followed by the The King and I arrangement. Lastly, the flutes and percussion led the band into the final piece, the Phantom of the Opera arrangement.
“[Phantom of the Opera] was an accurate ending piece for leaving [MVHS],” Subramanian said.
After the concert, Wind Ensemble informally reconvened in F114 to put away their instruments. The seniors had already taken group pictures before the concert, so all that was left was goodbye.
“It’s always harder playing without one person,” Kulla said. “But we pulled through.”
Because the band knew well in advance that the first clarinet would not be at the Pops Concert, the clarinetists were able to properly adjust their parts. However, leaving the MVHS music department is more difficult for Kulla to adapt to.
“I’m going to miss the music,” he said. “That’s what we do it for.”
Kulla plans to continue playing casually in the future, but he is not sure how or where. Other students, like Subramanian, have set dreams on how to play in college. Though UC Berkeley’s school band is too much of a time commitment for Subramanian, she plans to continue her music career by forming her own small band. Instead of a full-blown, intense band, it would be a casual, most likely weekly practice group. It’d also be a place for Subramanian to continue playing with friends like senior Shalini Kunapuli.
Throughout her four years in MVHS’ bands, Subramanian has formed bonds with many fellow players. Together, they weathered difficult pieces, players who could not attend performances and the most permanent change: a change in band directors.
“The different styles of music have changed,” Subramanian said. “But it’s not like the music drastically got better with each teacher. Each teacher just brought their own style.”
Last October, former band director Jon Fey left MVHS to become a vice principal at Northgate High School. After a brief period with former band director John Galli, Alegria took over the instrumental music department. In those few months, the students of MVHS’ band department had to adapt to countless changes between the three directors’ styles.
“For those who have been around [in MVHS’ band] for three or four years, going through that amount of change in such a short amount of time is very difficult,” Alegria said.
However, Alegria plans to stay. Continuing on from this year, Alegria will stay with his students, mastering difficult pieces together, fixing broken instruments together, laughing together and of course, performing together.
“One of the reasons I became a band director was because I knew I would get students for all four years. I get to see these kids grow. I get to see them walk in as freshmen and wide-eyed and afraid of everything and I get to see them grow and mature into seniors that are confident,” Alegria said. “It’s always hard to come to the realization that there’s a group of students who you’re just not going to see in August.”
Before Alegria walked offstage at the end of the concert, he stood still. The thump of his fist hitting his chest resounded across the room. The chime cut off. With his hand over his heart, Alegria stood deathly still so as to not distract the audience, as if there were still more to the concert. And there was. For another second, the 15 seniors in Wind Ensemble sat still and quietly observed the final echos of the chime, the final sound of the concert, the final part of their final high school concert, until they could only hear the note as a memory.
