By Lauren Farberman
Staff Writer
The Mira Costa Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and Concert Band preformed at its 2015 annual Pops concert in the Mira Costa auditorium, on Wednesday June 3 at 7p.m.
The Pops concert is an opportunity for the Mira Costa bands to play popular music, rather than the usual classical music. Famous composer Harry Gregson Willams also attended the concert as a guest composer.
“The Pops concert is different because we don’t play the usual songs we normally play during the year,” senior Scott Miketa said. “Instead we play popular songs that the audience can recognize.”
The Mira Costa bands practiced in class everyday and after school the week of the concert, to rehearse for their last concert of the year. They focused on their music by section to prepare.
“We practice our songs in band every day and go through each song section by section, improving each small detail,” junior Ethan Williams said. “It helps us so that when we preform, our music sounds the best it can.”
The popular and current music played at the Pops concert is extremely different than the classical music the bands commonly preform. According to senior Scott Miketa, band students enjoy the refreshing change of playing popular music.
“I enjoy the Pops concert because of the popular music,” Miketa said. “The songs make the concert a little less stressful, and it is more fun than what we usually do.”
Composer Williams attended the concert to guest conduct the wind ensemble in a performance of one of his songs. Williams is the composer of all four movie scores for the famous “Shrek” franchise.
“I feel so lucky that we get to be conducted by the famous composer Harry Gregson Williams, who wrote one of the pieces we are preforming,” Ethan Williams said.
The Pops concert included music from various popular movies. Songs that were preformed include music from “The Avengers”, “Cars”, “Monsters Inc.”, “Star Wars”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings”.
“The songs from movies are some of the best parts of the performance because the audience is so familiar with them,” Williams said. “My favorite movie song that we are preforming is the Pixar Compilation.”
The Mira Costa band department was awarded a Grammy Gold Award for 2014 Signature Schools. Their wide-spread recognition attracts supporters like the Band Boosters to fundraise for performances like the Pops concert according to Williams.
“It was such an honor to be recognized for a Grammy Gold Award last year,” Williams said. “Our success has helped us when fundraising because of our national recognition.”
The Pops concert ties off the year of performances for the Mira Costa bands. According to Williams it has music that appeals to the audience as well as band members, and it was a success.
“We had a great turnout for the Pops concert,” Williams said. “All our hard work paid off and it was a fantastic end to a great year in band.”
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