Lincoln’s bands were hard at work preparing for their final concert. The concert was held at San Jose State University on Tuesday, May 19th.

Beginning Band opened the concert, and was soon followed by the Percussion Ensemble, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Lab Band and finally Jazz Band, who closed the event. Lion Tales spoke to a couple of Lincoln’s band musicians about their experience participating in their final concert of the school year.

What was your experience like being in band?

Sophomore, Julian Dykstra (Beginning Band): “It was a fun time being in beginning band and I’m glad I chose it.”

Sophomore, Christopher Ramos (Concert Band): “Overall, this year was a fun year performing at football games, making new friends and for the first time having a well trained drumline.”

What are you looking forward to?

Senior, Marco Gonzalez (Jazz Lab): “I’m looking forward to expanding music knowledge skills.”

Freshman, Joe Cefalu (Wind Ensemble): “I am looking forward to the Washington D.C. trip next year.”

How long did it take you to prepare for the final concert?

Ramos: “It took the Concert Band about a grading period to prepare for the concert. We had to learn the songs in the first two months but we refined the songs for the rest of the time we had.”

Was there pressure to put on a great show?

Freshman, Kira Martinez (Concert Band): “It was pretty intense having to get all my parts together.”

Gonzalez: “Anytime you perform there is pressure, a little pressure for everyone.”

Ramos: “There was more pressure than our last concert because we were playing more songs, and especially for some sections there was extra pressure on the musicians, such as “Poloyoloyo,” — there was a solo for a flute, so the player had to work really hard.”

What was your favorite song or part of the concert?

Gonzalez: “A song I played my solo in.”

Ramos: “My favorite part was when the lights went out and our music parts said to make screeches and terrifying sounds. This caused a vicious feeling in the audience. Plus it was fun playing in the dark.”

What song did you like the most?

Sophomore, Ricardo Deseano (Jazz Band): “’Fair March.’”

Ramos: “I liked ‘Electricity’ the most.”

How do you feel performing with the Seniors one last time?

Ramos: “It’s sad yet inspiring because when we perform we put a lot of work into this, so knowing that they put more work because it was their last concert makes you want to work as hard as they did.”