Spring time means flowers blooming, birds chirping, warm weather and also the annual band and chorus concert. On May 18, band and chorus members gathered at FHS to give the last concert of the school year.

During the school year, members meet every other day to further their abilities. Chorus members meet on red days during fourth block and band members meet on white days during that same block.

“Personally, I think that the Christmas concert’s goal is to help get the community members that go in the holiday spirit. I also think that the focus is to just make people at the concert feel jolly and happy. Alternatively, the spring concert’s goal is to do the same thing but the band goes about it in a different manner,” junior John Blinn said. “We play pieces that show off our skilled players and their talents. The pieces are also generally harder to play in the spring. Regardless of how we go about it, I think that the band always does a good job of impressing the audience.”
The chorus sang a variety of songs, “O Sifuni Mungu,” “Irish Prayer,” “Royals” which was sung by only the girls, “Hallelujah” sung by only the guys and lastly, “Don’t Stop Believin,’” where the eighth grade choir joined in.

“I actually like the fact that we have a separate song for both male and female. I feel it shows off our talent, not only as a group. It lets us show off how we work with each other more individually,” sophomore Brooke Makray said. “Our strengths as a group are probably working well together. We don’t really argue. We have our days but everyone does. Also, we all want to do our best to give a great show and have a great time.”

The band also performed several songs. The first was “Fanfare for the Common Man, ”followed by “El Capitan,” “Toccata,” “Love Theme from Saint Elmo’s Fire” featuring seniors Joey Pail and Kameron Mayhue, “The Flight of the Bumble Bee” featuring senior Nikki Kammer and Mayhue,“The March from 1941” featuring senior Maddie Edder, “Abbey Road: A Symphonic Portrait” and “La Virgen De La Macerena” featuring senior Hannah Shumsky and Mayhue.

“Love Theme from Saint Elmo’s Fire” was originally written by David Foster. A band arrangement was nonexistent, so Mayhue arranged it for the band. This song is dedicated to the late Dane Mathesius. Dane was a Freedom graduate who was a member of band and recently passed.

“Dane was a friend to everyone and it’s a tragedy that he is no longer with us. As I was writing it, I felt as though I was giving him recognition, and letting the community and his family know that he was loved,” Mayhue said.

For the seniors, this was their last concert here at FHS. There were several awards given including the Emily Hillard award, which was given to Mayhue, Shumsky and Kammer and the Tom Traverna Memorial Scholarship, which was given to Shumsky and Kammer. There was also a special dedication to Mayhue due to his various musical accomplishments over his high school career.