On Jan. 7 and 8, the State High Rock Ensembles made their concert debut in their end-of-semester performance. Each semester, both Advanced Rock Ensemble (competitive audition-based group) and Basic Rock Ensemble work towards the goal of the end-of-semester concert. These concerts happen in January and in June.
On Jan. 7, the Advanced Rock Ensemble played 18 titles, with a 15-minute intermission between the first and second set. They began with the upbeat 1979 classic “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar.
The group performed other covers such as “Today” by The Smashing Pumpkins and energetic renditions of songs such as “Black Betty” by Ram Jam and “Sabotage” by The Beastie Boys. The group closed the show with a thrilling performance of “Number of The Beast” by Iron Maiden.
“My favorite song that we are performing is ‘Number of the Beast,’ we really put a lot of time and energy into it and it has come a long way,” sophomore bassist and singer Kora Jimenez said.
Many of the students were excited for the chance to share their talents with other performers. “Having this be my first year in Rock Ensemble, previously I have only played by myself, getting the experience to play with a ton of other people who I previously wouldn’t have met is very cool,” junior bassist and guitarist Mateo Reyes-Porro said.
The Basic Rock Ensemble performed on Jan. 8 and played 20 titles. The ensemble started off the show with “Big Shot” by Billy Joel. The musicians played other classic titles such as “R U Mine?” by The Arctic Monkeys, “Right Now” by Van Halen, “All My Life” by Foo Fighters, and “Rock You Like A Hurricane” by The Scorpions.
“‘Right Now’ by Van Halen was definitely hasty at first. There was a lot of syncopation and it would often get off. But we overcame those challenges and now it sounds really good,” freshman Éa Stilson said.
Rock Ensemble provides students with learning opportunities unique from traditional classes.
“Being in Rock Ensemble definitely helps you coordinate with others visually better because you’re not exactly able to communicate with them verbally. So you have to rely on hand signals or just nods at very primitive stuff and getting that down allows you to establish a much stronger connection with who you’re playing with, which makes you’re playing a lot tighter and a lot closer together,” sophomore Silas Dudash said.
As the new semester approaches, Rock Ensemble students are starting to begin the process of preparing for their end-of-the-year concert. Their next concerts will be on May 28 and 29 in the State High Performing Arts Center.
