By Eduardo Preciado
The East Los Angeles College Symphonic Band Concert, held last Friday at the S2 Recital Hall, recognized classic music pieces and provided the listener with familiar images.
Despite the performance being delayed by half an hour and no guest performers, the concert still had a great turnout. The last piece of music that the band played was one that most “V for Vendetta” fans would recognize, P.I. Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” This specific piece was written to celebrate the anniversary of Russia’s victory over France in 1812.
The band played a much shorter version of this piece that opened with the violins, followed by the wind and brass instruments. The band had good control of volume lowering and raising their notes like a wave of beautiful sounds and although it was a shorter version, the band did a wonderful job.
Other symphonies played were Gary D. Ziek’s “Fanfare for a Celebration,”Larry Mac Taggart’s “Elegy for The U.S.S. Arizona,” a sad song compared to the rest that could have been better. It was difficult to enjoy this particular piece due to moments of sloppy volume control coming from the clarinets and horns. It was still an amazing piece written for the heroes of the U.S.S. Arizona that died on Pearl Harbor.
The band also played a marching band song,“The Lamb’s March” by John Philip Sousa. In addition, there was a piece that put a smile on everyone’s face, which was Karl L. King’s “Aces of the Air March.”
This song was the kind of music that is typically played in the circus. It was very fun, upbeat and when the audience heard it, they immediately thought of elephants, clowns, jugglers, acrobats in the ceiling and unicyclists. It was a fun song that brought positive energy to the room.
The band played a great selection of music and even though they only played five pieces, the concert was fairly short, but it was quite enjoyable.
The music department has a few more shows for anyone that is interested in attending in the near future. The next performance will be held in the S2 Building Recital Hall on May 31 and will be free of charge to all students.
