It is that time of the year again when you crank up the radio to warm your car up with some traditional holiday tunes. The festive music of Michael Bublé may warm your ears, but nothing beats a classic Nutcracker instrumentation. So, why travel far to listen to some live music when you could attend the Fremd winter band concert?

On Thursday, Dec. 12, the Fremd winter band concert will be featuring all the bands that call Fremd their home. Jazz Ensemble will begin the concert at 6:30, followed by Fremd’s Concert Band, Symphonic Winds, Wind Ensemble, then finally Wind Symphony.

Matthew Moore, head of the music department and director of Concert Band and Wind Symphony, shares his thoughts on the repertoire of Concert Band. Referring to the Concert Band’s “In My Perfect Place” by Leslie Gilreath, a piece in their program, Moore is proud of how his students have mastered the piece’s emotions.

“It’s a very mature composition that almost sounds like a collegiate level piece, but is accessible for our Concert Band,” Moore said. “It goes through many different emotions and styles, and I’m very proud of the Concert Band and their hard work with this mature composition.”

John Teichert, director of Symphonic Winds and Wind Ensemble, enjoys “Butterfly Ball”, which is a piece that Wind Ensemble will be performing.

“It’s a mature piece of music that the kids have worked incredibly hard on this quarter,” said Teichert. ”The piece is a waltz with irregular phrases and contemporary harmony, which is Music Teacher language for ‘it’s kind of weird but still really fun to play and listen to.’”

As the last band concert of the first semester the band students have improved greatly under the direction of their conductors. Throughout the first semester, Moore and Teichert worked on challenging their students with new band compositions, and look forward to seeing all of the bands perform on a higher level next semester.

While the next semester still seems to have a long way to come, the approaching band concert has its aspects to look forward to as well. When asked which song he anticipated most to conduct, Moore chose “Third Suite” by Reed. “All three movements are very different and musically rewarding in their own way,” said Moore. “The Wind Symphony students have been working very hard with their individual part preparation, which should result in a very rewarding performance for the band.”