Christian Peterson
reporter.riverbendnews@gmail.com
Christmas performances abound, especially in the month of December. This is true of Suwannee High School (SHS) as well. On the evening of Thursday, Dec. 12, the SHS auditorium began to fill up with people eager to listen to the SHS band, Sound of Suwannee. The band had been hard at work mastering some of the most challenging and unique instruments that humanity has made. On the flute were Maria Cortes-Wilkes, Lillie Woods, Melissa Soto-Hernandez and Savannah Connelly. On the clarinet were Helen Bennett, Seth Ashley, Kayleigh King, Gracie Fulk and Daniela Gaytan. Savannah Mulfall played the bass clarinet. There were multiple saxophone players, including Allisa Ward, Erwin Neria Romulo, Andrew Waters, Lain Clubb and Eli Shockley. The Trumpet players were Bentley Beckner, Andrew Hutcheson, Henry Jordan, Alex Morla and Deshnia-Na-Na Ogburn. There were multiple French horn players, including Benson Nissley, Emma Dean, Tye Clay and Alana Burch. Jacarion Armstead stood out as the only trombone player. The baritone players were Sammy Hanssen, Aileen Castro Orozco and Jayden Hancock. Finally, rounding out the brass and woodwind section were tuba players Katelyn McGee, Edwin Suggs, Anthony Frances and Henry Moseley. Meanwhile, the percussion players were Maite Coello, Christopher Caldwell, Jayden Williams, Ryder Nelson, Ezekiel Spiliotis, Jarez Fields, Gabriel Aragon, Emma Ashley, Avery Peacock, Keira Morgan, Tyler Hodges, Israel McClain, Jona Christiansen, Haley Driskell, Gaia Sperber, Skylar Harlow and Joshua Cabrera. Wrapping up the players was Sophia Spiliotis on the electric bass. The band was directed and conducted by Clayton McPeak, assisted by Sean Conner. The evening began with some percussion songs. First was “Dashing Through the Snow,” followed by “Deck the Halls” and “Santa Claus is in the House.” The wind ensemble then joined the fray to finish out the show with “Too Much Percussion for Christmas,” “Tis the Season,” “Themes from the Nutcracker Suite,” “T'was the Night Before Christmas,” “Christmas Prism” and, finally, “The Polar Express.” It was clear that the students had worked hard on their pieces, pulling off difficult works from famous artist, including Tchiavosky. The crowd adored the performance and responded to the show with raucous applause.