PHS Music

On Tuesday, November 9th, the band department held its first indoor concert since the start of the pandemic. The concert was performed by the three levels of the orchestra program, Strings I, Strings II, and String Orchestra. The combined ensemble played 4 pieces; Allegro Molto - from Mozart’s first symphony, Winter - from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, the first movement of Boyce’s Symphony No. 4, and Finale - from Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. The concert ran between 20 and 30 minutes and was held in the school theater.

This event was an exciting milestone for the music program, which has greatly suffered from online learning.

At the time of the concert, the string ensemble was the only group able to play indoors. Due to rain, wind, and cold temperatures, the other bands have often been unable to play. The Jazz band, Wind ensemble, and Concert band were all unable to hold a live concert for the set of music they had been practicing. Instead they recorded their set which was then put on the school website and emailed to parents.

This was far from a perfect solution, however, because while recording outside during the school day there is no way to filter outside noise. In the recordings you can hear sirens from the nearby streets, PE classes near the gym, and as in the case of the jazz band recording, a lawnmower coming directly between the band and the camera.

As fall has given way to winter, the number of rehearsals has greatly dropped. “It’s just too cold to play.” Mr. Rogers has often said, “We can’t rehearse this literature when I can see kids shivering during every rest.”

Luckily for the music program, there has finally been some good news. Specialized Personal Protective Equipment designed specifically for wind instruments has finally arrived. Due to shipping hold ups and truck shortages, the PPE was only recently able to arrive in Merced, where it was picked up by Mr. Rogers himself. In messages sent on Remind, Rogers wrote “You will have a sub tomorrow as I drive to get [the PPE]... I could not be any happier about PHS music right now!”

With the ability to play inside once again, hope has returned to the music department.