The CHIEF May 2018

On the night of April 16th, Pontiac Township High School hosted the Illini Prairie Conference Fine Arts Festival. This event included students from Central Catholic, Illinois Valley Central, Monticello, Olympia, Prairie Central, Rantoul, St. Joseph-Ogden, St. Thomas More, Unity, and of course Pontiac Township. PTHS Students that were chosen to participate in this event included Kiara Price, Adrianna Araujo-Torres, Caitlyn Ricketts, Samantha Mehrkens, Henry Woodburn, David Gualandi, Kevin Kuska, Ali Schrock, and Patrick Bromley. In total, the band played five songs that made the concert about an hour long. Some of the songs performed were “Fanfare For The Third Planet” by Richard L. Saucedo and “Gypsy Dance” by Joseph Compello. The conductor for this festival was Dr. David Vroman who has taught at Bradley University for 33 years. Before the start of the concert, both Dr. Vroman and Mr. Schickel told of the hard work the students put into the music. Students came

By Alyssa Rodriguez

PTHS  Fine Arts

This year’s spring Choir concert took place on April 29th starting around three in the afternoon. The theme for this performance was “Spring Awakening!” The concert started off with Treble I with songs such as “A Dream Within a Dream” and “Poor Man Lazarus.” Next, the audience heard a single song from the jazz ensemble and then was followed by the Men’s Choir. Men’s Choir performed three songs, one being titled “This Old Hammer.” Then, Jazz Choir took the stage once again and sang two more songs. One of the songs the choir enjoyed working on and the audience loved “This is Me” that included a trio consisting of India Guerrero, Kevin Kuska, and Olivia Muir. Next, Bel Canto performed four songs that were all lovely and smooth. The last song, titled “Iraqi Peace Song,” contained a solo performed by Clare Vogel. After Bel Canto, the seniors in choir were recognized for their hard work and participation in making music. Finally, Concert Choir did a wonderful job on all five songs they prepared. One crowd favorite was the final song “My Soul’s Been Anchored In The Lord.” Even though it was bittersweet for this to be the last proper concert for the seniors, it was an amazing concert with which to end. to the school starting around 8:30 and all were on stage and ready to go by 9 a.m. to start the day. Musicians spent the whole day preparing for that night at 7. The evening was filled with wonderful flowing music and was shown to the audience in confidence. It was a concert that took the audience to new places and let people escape reality for what seemed like only a few minutes.

Band and Chorus Spring Concerts by Alyssa Rodriguez

As the weather finally allows for it to feel like spring, the band performed their last concert for the year on May 6th. Like always, the concert started off with the performance from the concert band. The songs performed by this group of students were “Flourish for Wind Band,” “Air For Band,” and “The Great Locomotive Chase.” Between “Air” and “Locomotive Chase,” the Swinging Bridges Brass performed a piece titled “Curtain Call.” Following those two groups, the seniors were recognized and were thanked for their hard work while participating in the band. Then symphonic band took the stage and started their pieces. The starting piece being “Rise of the Firebird” was followed by five other songs. One song featured Caitlyn Ricketts on horn and the next song featured percussionist Henry Woodburn. The second to last song was “Illinois Loyalty” and was conducted by the guest conductor, Tom Ramseyer. The concert lasted about an hour or so and was filled with tons of emotion and a lot of wonderful music. For the senior band students, this was their last formal concert, and it was something that will be remembered and treasured for the rest of their lives.