Staff writer
The Marion High School pops concert featured a number of instrumental and choral solos as well as group pieces and a few unexpected and amusing moments.
Before the high school band’s last number, Alicia Maloney, her sister Caitlyn Maloney, and Christian Czarnowsky, expressed their gratitude to band director Chris Barlow on behalf of the band.
The seniors thanked him for making music fun for them again and giving them a year of stable inspiration after having gone through several band directors in the last few years.
Band members pooled money together to buy Barlow a special lightsaber baton as a token of their gratitude.
Barlow used it to conduct the band’s last number, which fittingly was a medley of themes from “Star Wars.”
Czarnowsky said the band got the idea for the present because of the musical number.
Barlow said that he was very proud of the students for getting together the “Star Wars” arrangement in such a short time.
“The song was a late addition,” Barlow said. “They only had two weeks, so they came in during seminar and worked on their own time.”
The high school men’s Singers also surprised the audience by asking Superintendent Lee Leiker and his wife Diane to sit face to face on stage while they performed “Kiss the Girl” from “The Little Mermaid” soundtrack.
Choir members Shyla Harris, Noah Albin, Adam Kjellin, Elizabeth Meyer, and Justin Terrel performed solos.
Kjellin and Meyer both accompanied themselves. He played piano and she played guitar.
Choir director Tim Cassidy remarked to the audience that seeing students perform music they already know and listen to outside of school brought out a different and more personal side of each soloist.
Cassidy also gave out a number of personalized awards to students. Some were meant to be amusing like the “Ladies Man Award” to Quinton Hett and the “Big Smart Ox Award” to Nick Meyer.
Other awards were more straightforward like the award for most musical improvement that went to Elizabeth Meyer and John Lind, as well as the Consummate Musician Award, that went to Kjellin for his overall comprehension in all areas of music.