By BRIDGET FRYMAN
THE GOSHEN NEWS
DUNLAP —
The 2010 marching season will be the same but different for the Concord High School Marching Minutemen - after 22 years as an assistant, Scott Spradling has taken the podium as band director.
“It has been excellent and scary and everything in between,” Spradling joked.
The remainder of the staff is intact and has been a part of Concord music for a long time, but the standards and high expectations remain the same.
“The show is our competitor,” Spradling said. “We have to learn the show and be able to execute to a high level. If we can do those things the other competitions take care of themselves.”
This year’s show, Radiant Voices, will be a departure from Concord’s usual type of music. It is an original composition by Richard Saucedo and is more abstract.
“We want to make an artistic statement through music,” Spradling said. “It is a blend of different styles and crosses musical genres.”
The music will be challenging for the students and will include some singing and other unique sounds.
“It is not a real obvious show but it will be entertaining and intriguing,” he said.
The band overall is younger and bigger this year, with 182 students, but that should not be a problem.
“From what I can tell so far, they are not afraid to work hard,” Spradling said.
Even when dealing with sweltering summer heat during rehearsals, the students didn’t say a word, just went about their work.
“My challenge for the year is to help assist the kids and the staff to move in the right direction to perform at a high level of excellence,” Spradling said. “That’s all we can ask.”
