After a timeless marching season, the Westwood Band has put marching on the shelf. Now, concert season comes rolling in with festive cheer. On Monday, Dec. 9, the Westwood Band performed their annual winter concert at the Raymond E. Hartfield Performing Arts Center (PAC).
The band played a multitude of pieces, including Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson, A Christmas Festival by Leroy Anderson, Adventum by Jared Barnes, and The 3 Minute Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, arranged by Lloyd Conley.
“Sleigh Ride is a really fun piece to play, we play it every year,” Zane Hyman ‘25 said. “It’s a tradition for the winter concert”
For band members, the transition can be jarring. Going straight into concert season can be difficult, especially for those who played different instruments during the marching season.
“Marching band was a lot of fun, but it was kind of sad to end the season,” Hannelore Sederholm ‘27 said. “The transition is a little weird because we get a lot more free time. But it’s also cool to play more intricate pieces again during concert season.”
The band had three weeks to put together a holiday concert program, so every second during rehearsal is invaluable.
“There was a lot of practice, I feel like every day we rehearse, we do it with a lot of high efficiency,” Caden Li ‘28 said. “I feel like we got a lot done within just a few weeks. It was really impressive.”
After the winter concert, the band begins to prepare for their regular concert season during the spring semester. The band will compete at the annual Universal Interscholastic League (UIL) Performance and Sightreading Evaluation on Tuesday, March 4.
