Concert band is coming soon. The first concert will be held Monday, Dec. 11, in the AHS auditorium.

In the beginning of the year marching band had competitions including band jamboree and also performed at the home football games. Now that football season is over they are getting ready for not only pep band but also concert band. The band is led by Jarrod O’Donnell and he chooses the songs for band. O’Donnell has selected Pilatus Mountain of the Dragons, Minor Aleration, Circus Days, and Celebration Tribalesque.

He chose these songs because he thinks it fits with this years band students. The challenges O’Donnell thinks the band will face is that they’re young, technical demands, and they need to keep up with tempo. When asked what strengths the band has this year he said, “Everyone is focused on being good and it makes everything better.” O’Donnell wants the students of AHS to know that concert band is a great time, they have fun, and “if you want to play an instrument then we are willing to have you.”

Anastasia Muell was asked on her opinions of concert band. She said it has always been a lot of fun. Although it isn’t much different than last year, it isn’t repetitive from season to season. “We change the band, with outgoing seniors and incoming freshmen, and we change our music and as we progress through our years,” Muell said, “We feel our musical skill is increasing.”

Muell also said several students would like to play City Trees for an actual concert this year. City Trees is a piece the band tried out last year, and a lot of the students took a liking to it, but the band ran low on time so it was cut from the show. “However, the music we have now is very good, and it really brings the band together, sometimes forcefully through super fast tempos, but it brings us together either in musical hate or musical liking for the pieces we’re given,” Muell said.