Shawano Community High School musicians and vocalists are tuning up for the school’s 23rd annual Dinner Dance performances slated for Nov. 14 and 15.
Forty-four jazz band students and 18 vocalists from the school’s show choir, the Showstoppers, will perform an array of styles.
Christopher Kent, SCHS band director and head of the music department, will be directing the instrumentalists consisting of the saxophone, trumpet, trombone, drums, bass, guitar and keyboard. Choir teacher Jonathan Kent, Christopher’s brother, will direct the the singers.
Senior alto sax player Threse Van Dyck said she is looking forward to her solo, “When I Fall in Love” by Victor Young and Edward Heyman.
“It is very pretty, and I am nervous about it, because I have to stand up in front of everybody and play,” Van Dyck said.
Other band soloists will be senior drummer Mitch Micik and junior trumpeter Teddy Myers.
“We have a couple of features with a couple of students that are doing really good solos,” Van Dyck said.
Myers, who will play Chuck Mangione’s song “Feels So Good,” said the key to a solid performance for the trumpet section is performing as a unit.
“The hardest thing is staying together as one person instead of five of us,” Myers said.
Senior drummer Mitch Micik is rehearsing for the uptempo jazz song, “Grease Weezer.”
Micik said his solo will deliver a fast-paced rhythm with high energy.
“It is like a bass drum, funk style and there is a lot of sound that comes with it,” Micik said. “There is a lot of emotion, a lot of feeling that goes into it.”
The drummer said his fellow band members will be key to producing a powerful performance or, as he described it, “being able to groove.”
“If there is not a groove, there is not a pulse and it would not come out right,” Micik said. “It takes a lot of teamwork and a lot of good ears.”
Van Dyck said the audience will be impressed with the talents of her bandmates, who have worked countless hours honing their talents for the annual show, and the Show Stoppers.
“I am really proud at the way we have accelerated,” she said. “I think they should listen and see what it is all about.”
Other numbers will include “Little Brown Jug,” an 1869 folk song written by Joseph Winner, “One Day I’ll Fly Away” by Randy Crawford, “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire and “Fame,” a 1980 pop song.
The auditorium stage will be transformed into a supper club, complete with professional lighting and sound, for the Dinner Dance performances.
Ticket sales end Sunday. The meal includes cherry glazed chicken breast, soup and salad bar, and will be served by students during the show.
No dinner tickets will be sold at the door due to limited seating on the auditorium stage. There will be no seating in the grandstand.
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