Eaton High’s winter band concert executed the final performance of the year beautifully. All four bands, including the Jazz Combo, Jazz Ensemble, Concert Band, and Symphonic Band, all played three to four songs with a special combined performance of all four bands at the end. The Jazz Combo group performed three songs: “Green Onions,” “Watermelon Man,” and “Blue Bossa.” A total of eight solos were performed for the Combo squad. Alexyz Hernandez (23), Cyrus Vanbriggle (25), and Dustin Abney (24) performed in “Green Onions.” Cody Greer (25), Gilbert Feldpausch (24), and Abney performed in “Watermelon Man.” Then, Callie Zacharias (25) and Feldpausch finished out with “Blue Bossa.” The Jazz Ensemble group performed right after and had a total of eight soloists as well. They played “The Chicken”, “On The Sunny Side of The Street”, “All of Me” and “Coconut Champagne”. Alex Rumley (23), Madelyn Campbell (23), Even Reichel (23), and Cameron Faust (22) were all featured in the song “The Chicken.” 

Due to construction the band hasn’t been able to perform in the auditorium like normal, but the bands finally were able to play in there for the first time in over a year. Faust said, “It was really cool because all of the lights were super bright and it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to play in the auditorium.” In the song “All of Me,” Faust was the only featured soloist while playing the trombone. Completing the Ensemble performance, Charlotte Reynolds (22) and Abby Whitaker (22) had solos in “Coconut Champagne.”  Ashlyn Crowder (22) said, “I would say that my favorite song was “The Chicken.” Crowder has always loved to perform and finishing her last winter concert was one to remember. With only two band performances left, the Concert Band played three songs called “Skygazer”, “Loch Lomond”, and “Epic Venture.. With no soloist to be featured in the Concert Band, the last group was the Symphonic Band. This squad played “A Childhood Remembered,” “Flight of Valor,” “Appalachian Morning,” and “Rephrygeration.” 

As the bands wrapped everything up, Director Logan Doddridge came up with a special combined piece including all of the bands and they played the infamous “Sleigh Ride.” The festive piece was wrapped up with the band students wearing Santa hats with green and red lights on the stage. 

Math teacher Derek Weigle attended the winter concert and said, “I loved seeing students that I have in class that I didn’t know were in band up on stage being band stars as well as math stars.”  As the Winter break is coming up, the Eaton High School students were definitely in a “jolly” mood after listening to the bands.