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image of a saxophone laying on top of sheet music
Sam Cunniff '19 - Citation Features Editor

This spring the VISTA band will take to the international stage as it goes on tour throughout Europe. On this nine day trip during spring break, the band will visit Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. They will have the opportunity to play in major concert venues and small villages alike. The trip will begin in Munich, Germany, where the band will learn about and visit the historical sights of World War II and the Holocaust. Then it is off to the Czech, countryside village of Cesky Krumlov. There they will put on a concert with people of all ages from the local village who have been playing their instruments their whole lives. This will be a great opportunity for the band to meet fellow musicians from another country and experience the music of another culture. After that, they hit the road again and make their way to Vienna, Austria. Vienna was once widely considered the musical capital of Europe. It was home to legendary composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Strauss and Beethoven. While there the band will learn of these famous composers and be able to play famous songs in the same city where they were once written, hundreds of years ago. By the end of the end of this trip the band will have experienced something that few get too and will have made memories to last a life time.

Flyer promoting the VISTA Band on their upcoming Europe trip

However, their story will not have started on spring break. The band has been rehearsing for this trip since this past December. Going in to school on weekends, and now twice a week after school, they have been putting in the time and effort to ensure that they go to Europe prepared, and their efforts are certainly paying off. Already they have created a repertoire totaling nearly twenty songs. These songs range from modern, American concert band pieces to classical European melodies. Therefore, the band will not only be hearing about famous European composers, but also be playing their songs in the cities those composers lived in.

While their trip is the obvious highlight of this year for the band, and rightly so, there is so much more that they are doing. For them, the school year started in early August, when everyone arrived to school for band camp. There they spent hours practicing to master their football halftime show, which was James Bond. Since then they have followed every sports team from both Saint Thomas and Visitation all the way to the end. In the classroom they have been learning all sorts of music, classical and contemporary. Currently, they are working on a selection that includes a work inspired by poetry recovered from Nazi concentration camps. The song is traditionally played alongside the reading of its inspiration, and may be featured at their next concert. Finally, individuals and small groups are preparing for a solo and ensemble competition in which they play in front of several professors and receive feedback on their work. However, that will need to be set aside for the next few weeks as the band heightens its preparations for its upcoming trip and its entrance onto the international stage.