The Ovid-Elsie middle school and high school bands took a trip to see the 2021 Spartan Spectacular at the Wharton Center on Sunday on the campus of MSU.
Performing first was the MSU Symphony band, who played Fanfare Conzonique by Brian Balamage, conducted by David Thorton. This piece was an exciting start to the show, played beautifully by the MSU students. The same band then played “Prelude to Act 1” from La Traviata, by Giuseppe Verde (arranged by Leonard Falcone), which was conducted by Kevin Sedatole.
Next up was the MSU Jazz Octet II, who first performed Beaux Arts by Buddy Montgomery (arranged by Randy Napoleon), and then Doujie by Wes Montgomery (arranged by Randy Napoleon). Each of the members performed with excitement. The members were Jeremiah Flack on trumpet, Kasa Belgrave on alto saxophone, Even Kielty on tenor saxophone, Joel Perez on trombone, Nick Holder on baritone saxophone, Andrew Huot on piano, Carl Hennings on bass, and Hugh Downs on guitar. These two pieces were both conducted by Randy Napoleon.
Before intermission, the symphony band closed out the first half with a performance of Frank Ticheli’s WIld Nights!
To kick off the second half, there was a performance from MSU’s Color Guard to the song Sight of You by Sigrid. The color guard is under the instruction of Emily Rogers, assisted by Jenna Craven. After the color guard performance, the MSU Feature Twirlers took the stage to perform their routine to the song A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) by Fergie, Q-Tip, and GroonRock. This baton show was performed with grace and excellent spirit by Lydia Zavinsky, Marissa Pierce, and Grace Wennerberg.
Afterwards, the Spartan Marching Band, lead by director David Thornton and associate director Arris Golden, performed various selections from all of their shows from the 2021 season that they have had so far. With songs anywhere from Victory for MSU to “Spooktacular” hits like Thriller, these band members played in perfect unison with excellent energy throughout the entire performance. The drumline, under the instruction of Jon Weber, had fun choreography throughout the entire show, and even featured one tenor drum, or “quads”, playing their instrument upside down.
This was the first time that the Ovid-Elsie Band has ever taken the trip to see the Spartan Spectacular. Almost every high school band member attended, and about 10 of OE’s middle school musicians tagged along.
