The sound of bustling spectators in the stands pours out the doors of the gymnasium as more people arrive and take their seats. The cafeteria grows empty as families trail into the gym to enjoy the upcoming performance with full bellies of Chick-fil-A sandwiches, chips and cookies. The room quiets down as the music begins.

On October 10, the Revere Bands from elementary to high school grade levels participated in the Bands in the Round concert organized by music teachers Dr. Darren LeBeau, Kelly Heider and Katie Pfluger. 

Every year the Revere School District puts on the Bands in the Round concert to showcase the different grade levels of the Revere Schools band program. This concert is one of the more popular ones of the year for students and parents, allowing them to get a feel for the band community and livelihood. Heider, the leader of the elementary school band, enjoys this concert seeing it as a great community building event.

“It’s good for the students; it’s good for the community. People get to see all the way from the beginning of the band in fifth grade all the way through the middle school grades and then all the way through twelfth grade. It’s all the bands in the entire district,” Heider said.

Pfluger agreed, adding that the opportunity is huge for the students to get some idea of what the band is about. 

“The students get to really see how the bands progress as they get older and the more complicated that we get to perform,” Pfluger said. 

The students of the Bands in the Round Concert perform yearly, a sixteen year tradition. It first started because the marching band was looking to purchase new uniforms and didn’t have a designated fund for that specific purpose. A parent offered to do a soup and salad dinner before the concert as the funding aspect and LeBeau had been looking to start a tradition with all the aspects of bands in the round, so the idea became a reality. The only big difference now is that it became a Chick-Fil-a dinner due to COVID-19.

In preparation for the concert, each band teacher has a role to play. Throughout the first few weeks of school, each band has different challenges ahead of them that they have to overcome with practice and hard work. In terms of the teachers, besides teaching the music, they all get together and pick a date. Dr. LeBeau has been at Revere for over twenty years. 

“We’re up to formula. I do the fifth grade and high school, so there’s two of the bands and then Miss Pflueger does the three middle school grades so we just pick out a date when we are picking out concerts and pick a date that works for all the grades,” LeBeau said.

The concert begins with the fifth grade band playing four pieces that they have learned over the course of four weeks. Heider is in charge of the elementary school bands and commented that she was very impressed with their commitment to learning the pieces. She also mentioned how excited the students were to be there. 

“Their eyes just pop out, and they’re so excited they get to see the sixth grade above them what they can be doing a year from now. It gives them confidence and motivation to keep going,” Heider said. 

After the fifth grade has completed their songs, the sixth, seventh and eighth graders take the stage respectively to present their pieces. The change between each grade is drastic, as the sixth grade band pulls out two pieces that combine the whole band and showcase each section’s sound. According to LeBeau, these two pieces have a bit of background as well. 

“It’s the same two songs as when I was a middle school director many years ago. They’re still playing the exact same two songs. It kind of just became the tradition to play these two songs out of the book,” LeBeau said. 

One reason behind this is that coming out of fifth grade, the bands haven’t played together, so these two songs serve as a solid foundation for the sixth graders to feel confident performing. 

Continuing on to the seventh and eighth grade bands, a viewer would be exposed to four more intricate pieces that showcase the growing bands abilities. Pfluger is in charge of the preparation regarding all the middle school bands and her hard work is recognized. 

“As far as middle school bands goes, I usually like to do a popular piece and then a more traditional band piece of music and we just start practicing that at the beginning of the school year and keep preparing until we perform at the concert,” Pfluger said. 

Bands in the Round is an important concert for the eighth graders, especially because it is a time where they are able to be influenced and motivated to join the band in highschool. They get to perform two songs with the marching band; Fight Song and the Land of a Thousand. Throughout the year they begin to have more opportunities to participate in the marching band and one of those ways is Pep Band. Pep band is the group of students that play at basketball games over the winter. But, when preparing in class in general, they, Pfluger says, practice more complicated music in order to prepare them for the high school level. 

Finally, the marching band comes pouring in through the two open gym doors and makes their way to the stands in a spectacle of red, blue and brass. For them, it’s been not only four weeks of practice but almost four months. LeBeau finds that this captivating spectacle really ties the concert together and is what really makes it so enjoyable because parents and kids alike get to experience the full force of the band and the beauty of the music they create. He also thinks the setting adds to the effect they are trying to create.

“I’ve been here 20-25 years. I think this is a favorite concert because you could see everybody. It’s open, it’s in the gym and it’s not fussy,” LeBeau said.

After a few words of thanks are spoken, the marching band files out the back and so do the parents, patting their kids on the back and smiling. After a while, everyone is gone and the lights switch off. The room is quiet and still again, but if one listens hard enough they can faintly hear the beating of the drums and the horn of the trumpets triumphantly guiding the melody in and out of the ears of the cheering spectators.