My feet were tired after the Crestview High School band concert May 16.
No, I didn't walk to the school.
The music was just so toe-tappin' good I couldn't keep my feet still.
I often marvel that the Big Red Machine we enjoy on the field at Jack Foster Stadium is the same 250-plus well-disciplined, talented and enthusiastic kids we see twice a year in concert.
Split into their respective ensembles, we enjoy them even more without the distraction of cheering, game scores and boiled peanuts.
The concert prep band, Jazz Ensembles I and II, the concert band and the symphonic band, interspersed with the Sax to the Max and Trois Hautbois small ensembles, played to a standing-room-only audience.
The jazz groups got the Pearl Tyner Auditorium swinging with favorite big band tunes such as "In the Mood" and "Sing! Sing! Sing!"
Senior Olivia Dunn provided a stunning vocal for Jazz Ensemble I's performance of Jesse Harris' "Don't Know Why."
The concert band outdid itself on two sophisticated numbers, Gustav Holst’s "March from First Suite in E-flat" and Mahler's Symphony No. 3 "Finale."
The former was one of the first "really substantial concert works" for concert bands, assistant director Charley Andersen said. The latter piece grew and swelled until it hit a spine-shivering crescendo.
Another selection that struck an emotional chord was the lovely Percy Grainer setting of "An Irish Tune from County Derry," popularly known as "Danny Boy," which the symphonic band sensitively and skillfully handled.
The Big Red Machine soon begins summer band practice in preparation for its 2013-14 season.
Meanwhile, jazz lovers can get another taste of Jazz Ensembles I and II in concert at 7 p.m. May 28.
VIDEO: See "Related Media" at top left of this article.
Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: REVIEW WITH VIDEO: Crestview High band concert a real toe-tapper