After four years of hard work and dedication, band and orchestra seniors have always looked forward to their final spring concert. Senior Julia Dye feels that the band’s final concerts are what proves all the effort put in.

“They are like getting your final test,” Dye said, “But also at the same time, they’re a reward for working so hard on playing these pieces of music.”

This year with the pandemic, the orchestra and band concerts, as well as their classes, have looked a lot different. These differences they have undergone has been weird for most of these seniors, but even with all the changes they have had to adjust to this year, they have all kept their spirits up going through.

For orchestra senior Jessica Paro, this will be strange for her as this will be the first time that all students will be together for a performance this year. As some students were virtual, the group hadn’t had an opportunity to practice all together.

“Right before the concert, actually May 18, we’re all finally going to meet together for the first time, so it’s just so odd,” Paro said.

In previous years, band and orchestra students would have multiple concerts throughout the year, but according to senior Daniel Hiller, this year they only had two.

“The first one was kind of outside, and it was a little different,” Hiller said. “And then this last one, we’re only going to be able to play one song, so it’s been a lot different.”

The concert for the band this year will be unlike any concert in the past. According to Dye, due to social distancing they are not able to fit all the bands on the stage, so band director David Copeland decided for the concert to only be the advanced band.

The seniors all wish they could have experienced a more “normal” senior year as they didn’t get to experience much at all. Although they didn’t get what they hoped for, there is still hope for the ending of the school year.

“Having this last concert, it’s one last goodbye,” senior Joyanna Bracken said. “And I’m honestly happy that we are able to do it.”

After a school year full of changes being made as a result of the pandemic, this last concert is so meaningful to these seniors because there is a feeling of having accomplished something big. Not only that, but they will finally be able to come together to play what they have been working on.

“Hey, we finally got it, we finally made it,” Bracken said. “We all had unison parts of the same melodies or whatever, so then finally when we get together, we can finally create that, and it’ll be musical.”