The Wiscasset schools’ music department presented the annual spring concert for grades four through 12 on May 25. The concert opened with the fourth and fifth grade Elementary Chorus presenting four pieces. As with a Wiscasset Elementary School performance May 11, their portion of the concert had a friendship theme. This time, along with meaningful quotes about friendship read by the students, the songs included  “Together Wherever We Go,” followed by “Count On Me” and “We Go Together” (from “Grease”). Their finale was a silly medley of four songs performed on kazoos, entitled, “William Tell’s Overshirt.”

The next performance was the debut of the fifth grade beginner band. Students wowed the audience with their new skills by playing several traditional folk songs. This was followed by the WMHS Band who played several short selections then an upbeat version of “America” (“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”) and a piece of program music called “A Prehistoric Suite.” Band Director Beth Goodliff explained that program music is designed to make the listener imagine something in particular and in this case it was dinosaurs! There were three different movements presented including “Stegosaurus,” “Brontosaurus” and “The Battle” (between Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops). The dramatic music used a wide range of dynamics and the final section included a section where students improvised on random notes in a large crescendo finally coming together to a rousing ending. The band portion of the concert concluded with both band ensembles combined to play a student favorite entitled “Hard Rock Blues.”

The Middle High School Chorus took the stage next to sing five pieces. The serene “Silent Moon” was first, followed by a musical storm entitled “Lightning!” and then “The Storm is Passing Over,” with a gospel feel complete with hand claps in the final section. Next was “The Rhythm of Life” (from “Sweet Charity”) and then “Doctor Jazz” which opened with Harper Atwood and Christopher Lincoln performing solos.

The concert concluded with all choral students in grades four through 12 presenting a Japanese folk song, “Hitori,” that was accompanied by students on contrabass bars, xylophones, glockenspiels and finger cymbals.

The Wiscasset music department faculty and students would like to thank the Wiscasset community for their continued support of music in our schools. Congratulations to all participating students on a successful spring performance!