A Review Of My Little Sister's Band Concert

On Sunday, February 10, 2008, The Crete Lutheran Beginner's Band had its first concert.The conductor, Joel Buege, chose songs based on a winter theme. They opened with Jingle bells, the worn out, simple to play Chirstmas carol, and failed to breathe any more life into it than that guy who did a really bad job in that popular movie. Jingle bells was promptly followed by a painful intro to the next song, a medley of holiday tunes. The official name of the piece was "Holidy Sampler", and Mr. Buege made the mistake of comparing it to those cheesy whitman's samplers you get at Walgreens. After what was a solid start for a bunch of ten year olds, Mr. Buege also took the liberty of filling in for the bass drummer, who had failed to show up, by singing during the parts where there should have been a drum solo. He was a little flat. The last piece, Beethoven's 9th or Ode to Joy, was the musical equivalent to a tums: not the best thing ever, but pleasant enough to make one forget the things that just happened. Finally, the one girl flute section was audible. That factor alone made up for several instances of harmony gone horribly wrong, and my little sister sticking a drum stick up her nose. To her credit, she did not miss her cue.