The Night Before Christmas

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Sleigh Ride

Dixieland, Royal Garden Blues

This past semester the Jazz Band had the amazing opportunity to work with Dr. Steve Call, a Jazz professor from BYU (and actually, Dr. Fullmer's former jazz professor). Dr. Call taught the kids much about jazz, but especially about his particular specialty, Dixieland (see Jazz for Cows). The band performed a Dixieland song at the boys' Christmas concert, and Christian, being the multi-tasking musician he is, had the privilege of being featured on clarinet alongside Dr. Call (who played the double bell euphonium--yes, there is such an instrument), and boy was that kid wailing on his clarinet--we were quite proud. :)

Frosty the Snowman

Nothing beats a little jazz at Christmastime:

Summertime, George Gershwin

Thirty minutes before the boys' band concert, several jazz combos performed. Christian's was saved for last--because it was the best of course--here is Summertime, by George Gershwin, with Christian playing saxophone:

How the Boys Spent Their Thanksgiving

Poor Christian and Sean could not be with us for Thanksgiving... of course, I really shouldn't say poor Christian and Sean, because you know where they were? HAWAII. Yeah, not feeling so bad for them anymore, are you? :) The Timpview Marching Band had the opportunity this year to travel to Pearl Harbor with two Utah veterans and play at several memorials and remembrance events--what a wonderful opportunity! It really is quite an amazing thing to see a 14 year old and 17 year old (just turned 17 the day they left for Hawaii!) tear up when talking about Pearl Harbor--truly something great to see their hearts touched like that.

The band marched in the Waikiki Parade:

Played at the Polynesian Cultural Center, (below is a clip of them playing an Armed Forces Medley--not gonna lie, the Marines Anthem is still my favorite):

and performed "Eternal Father" at the USS Arizona Memorial, among other things. This last one, according to the boys, truly was a spectacular experience--for one, they received special permission to be there and perform (it's a pretty big deal), and of course, not to mention the content of where they were--they seriously can't talk about it without getting choked up:

Once I get my hands on some pictures, I will be posting those as well. :)

Marching Band 2011

At the boys' Fall concert, the Marching Band played--all of them, all up on stage (and down around it)--boggles my mind how they can all fit them in that auditorium).

Timpview SWEEPS Rocky Mountain Marching Band Competition

As you may have guessed by the title, the Timpview High Marching band made a clean sweep of the awards at the Rocky Mountain Marching Band Competition--FIRST PLACE IN EVERY CATEGORY! It was hosted at the BYU football stadium, so we actually got to go! Hence, the AWESOME pictures. :)

First up, soldier Sean--never breaks attention, not even for a second!

 Playing multiple instruments and running around the entire show:

 

and second, Christian, our Sexy Sax Man, running around like an insane maniac (at parents' night you can shadow the kids--we've all tried it and failed. Those kids sure book it on the field!):

Go Timpview! :)

Home on the Range

This is my favorite song from the boys' Marching Band Show this year:

Band

 And the boys have both had several wonderful band concerts--I am continually amazed by the talent these kids have! 

Sean's middle school concert blew me away--I played the flute in our middle school band, there were three of us, and the other sections were much bigger, and we really didn't play anything all that exciting. At Sean's concert they had several different bands (beginner to advanced, percussion included--we didn't have ANY percussion... they have an entire section, and an after school percussion ensemble!), they played difficult yet entertaining repetoire, and they even played a QUEEN tribute medly. It was pretty dang awesome:

The next week we attended Christian's Jazz Band Pillow Concert--much different than his usual concerts, very interesting, but quite entertaining as well, and you can tell that the kids really had fun with it. They played songs like the theme from The Incredibles, The Pink Panther, Nacho Libre, etc. Christian played an awesome solo for The Pink Panther (sorry about the sound quality, they were having issues with the sound equipment and the audience was a bit loud):

Now they're done with band!--haha, for like a week, then on to Marching Band! :)

Music in the Air

Last week the boys had their Christmas band concerts. Unfortunately I don't have any photos from Sean's--the Centennial auditorium is a scary place, let's just leave it at that... --but he was awesome! Sean seriously was amazing--he was on a different instrument for every song, sometimes switching in the middle of a song even. Incredible. And did you know that he's on the band council? I had no idea. He's pretty amazing. :)

Next was Christian's band concert at Timpview. First up he played a solo in his jazz combo:

And then he played another solo for the Jazz Band performance. He was a soloing fool! ;) I love their jazz band, they are so much fun to listen to!

And of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without Santa Claus...

Merry music Christmas!

Grand Parade

Heck yes, he was amazing. Happy 4th indeed.

We were caught in a downpour by the time I tried to shoot video, but you can still get the gist of the band:

Children's Parade

Happy 4th everyone!!! While Christian is diligently marching in the Grand Parade this morning, I am posting pictures of last week's parade: THE CHILDREN'S PARADE. While not quite as large as the Grand Parade today, the Children's Parade was still a lot of fun--if you ask me, it was the perfect length, with the perfect size audience (you could actually find somewhere to sit and watch!). The kids in the parade were adorable as usual, scurrying around like vultures trying to snatch the candy that the adults were throwing to the audience. Of course, our favorite part was the Timpview Band, but we might be a little biased. ;)

Strawberry Days Parade

It was a cold and blustery morning, but as they say: the show must go on--and that it did! Strawberry Days would not be stopped by a little rain and wind (and when I say a little, I mean a lot). Although wet and cold, the Timpview marching band stayed true to the end--and there's Christian, right in the middle! We are so proud of him--doesn't he look handsome??? Gotta LOVE a man in uniform.


Christian now plays more instruments than we can keep track of. He started out with the clarinet, then upgraded to the bass clarinet. Sadly though, there are no bass clarinets in marching band, so in just a few days Christian had the joy of learning a whole new instrument--the tenor sax. For just picking it up a few weeks ago, I must say he is kicking some serious musical butt.

Music Magic

Christian playing the bass clarinet

Sean playing the clarinet

Christian and Sean's band concert--let's just say that personally, I was blown away. I never expected to hear that high of a caliber from elementary and middle school bands. My elementary school band consisted of four members--yeah, so pretty much I was awe-struck by this the whole time. Wow. If you don't believe me, check out the videos--it was quite the experience.

ODE TO JOY: Combined choirs--all the elementary schools, middle school, and high school played together in the finale.



LIBERTY BELL



NETTLETON

and my personal favorite, ROCK CREEK ADVENTURE. This one totally takes me back to Disney's California Adventure--I love it!