Sound of music

Paige Holt

Laura Johnson tunes up for the Christmas concert

On December 21st, 2015 the Cannon Falls band put on an amazing performance in the High School Auditorium. “The band concert went fantastic!” Said Band Director, Mike Legvold. “There wasn’t much surprise for me in this concert, but I really enjoyed seeing Mr. Duggan’s light show with the jazz band. The echoing saxophone solo also took me by surprise. I felt that everyone did very well that evening,” Mr. Legvold continued. Peter Duggan’s thoughts were in the same ballpark. “I was not disappointed and the kids did wonderfully the way I knew they would.” This was Mr. Duggan’s first winter performance at CFHS and he had brought with him some extraordinary ideas to give the concert a little pep. In the High School Jazz Band, all musicians attached two or three glow sticks to their instruments, to go along with a glow-in-the-dark drum solo by senior Bjorn Pearson. This brightened up the mood of many who listened. Sophomore Grant Schlichting also had a solo that was, in a way, a duet. Grant would play a few notes and the sound would rebound from a special microphone, creating an echo of tenor saxophone. “It was great! It sounded cool and I really liked how I could manipulate my sound to get a different type of echo,” explains Grant as he described his performance experience.  This was an outstanding introduction to the song, “Birdland”, Mr. Duggan received this idea from a music video, Jethro Tull Live music video. “I give the glowstick credit to the jazz band, as they all voted on the idea and I just supplied them with the glowsticks,” continued Duggan.”I’ve had past jazz band experience with a couple years at Fridley Middle School Jazz band and now Cannon. it has been enough years of experience. And there is nothing I would rather be doing than preparation for future performances.”

The concert was a combination of talent in Cannon Falls, starting with the High School Jazz Band playing Mission Impossible; solos by Mason Grimes, Quinn Sabin, and Bjorn Pearson; and Birdland, introduced by Schlichting’s echo improv, followed by solos from James Watson and Lily French. Next the High School Flute Choir performed a delicate arrangement called Pat-A-Pan, followed by the Middle School Flute Choir’s take on Coventry Carol and Sussex Carol. Heading south of the border, the High School Steel Drum group; Pots and Pans; performed two Christmas favorites, Ukranian Bell Carol (Carol of the Bells) and Rudolph the Reggae Reindeer. Using that red rose as a guide to the next performance, the Middle School Jazz Band performed a Cannon Falls original, Tyrannosaurus Charlie with solos by Chris Baszuro, Jason Hanka, Kristy Allen, Xander Weinreich, and Sanskar Bhakta. After magnificent performances by the Cannon Falls Band extracurriculars, it was time for the grade bands to begin. It began started with the Middle School Band, made up of 7th and 8th graders. Directed by Mike Legvold and Peter Duggan, they performed the classic Christmas songs, A Holly Jolly Christmas and Kings, Kings, Kings. Even traveling to south of the Equator to play Christmas in Jamaica. To finish off the evening, the High School Band played Academic Festival Overture, followed by the Christmas Song and Christmas Tryptich; an arrangement by James Currow containing snippets from a wide variety of Christmas Carols. With this came the end of the Winter Performance and the 2015 year.