This past Tuesday, May 13, 2025, each of Lafayette's three concert bands – Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Symphony – took the stage at Singletary Center for the Arts on the University of Kentucky campus to perform their spring concert.

The concert bands have been continuously preparing the difficult repertoire for this concert since the beginning of the semester, with lengthy rehearsals after school almost every week. The bands have been trying to receive as much feedback as possible from various educators around the area.

First, the Concert Band, conducted by Aaron Jones, performed James Curnow's “Vanguard” and Scott Watson's “Coney Island Rag.” Followed by the Symphonic Band, led by Dr. Chris Strange, performing Clifford Barns’ arrangement of Johann Strauss’ “Entrance March”, Jerry Nowak’s arrangement of J.S. Bach’s “Aria”, and finishing strong with James Barnes’ arrangement of Harold Arien & E. Y Harburg’s “The Wizard of Oz”.

Before the Wind Symphony’s performance, there was an annual raffle drawing to conclude the fundraiser of selling tickets for the drawing. The winner of this fundraiser is drawn randomly and receives $2,500. This fundraiser is a big part of the tradition that has been established here at Lafayette, and a fun way to end the year.

To conclude the concert, the Wind Symphony performed John Philip Sousa’s infamous “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, Justin Williams’ arrangement of “At the Movies with John Williams, and Claude T. Smith’s “Festival Variations”.

Not only is this performance entertaining for the families in the audience watching, but it is also fun for the students participating in each performance. Acadia Meyers, a sophomore in the Wind Symphony here at Lafayette, stated, “My favorite part of the concert was probably having the opportunity to spend time with my friends, and ultimately work together in a team to create a great performance.” The music each group plays has an impact on the people both listening and performing the pieces, and the feeling of achievement and teamwork that is established when performing, which is a feeling like no other.

This spring concert is an event that is always looked forward to by the families of students performing and the community around the city. Johnnie Bishop, wife of the head band director, Dee Bishop, stated in an interview with the Times, “The concert is always something that I look forward to at the end of every spring semester. It’s a great feeling getting to see these kids perform something so great that they have worked towards the whole year.” This quote further shows the impact that the music being performed has on the people listening to it, and the strong feeling of achievement that is established for students bleeds onto the audience, creating a feeling of accomplishment that is unable to be replicated.

This concert was a great way for our Generals to work together as a team to ultimately achieve the goal of putting a great performance out there, and end the hard-working school year on a positive note. To keep up with what else the band program has in store, stay tuned to the Lafayette Times for more.