Memorial Middle School Orchestra Concert May 21, 2026

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-22

[00:00:12]I just keep going.

[00:00:38]Hello.

[00:01:12]You wake up.

[00:01:39]I went Charlie.

[00:02:08][music] Okay. Hello and welcome to our Memorial Orchestra spring concert. I am so excited for you get to hear the cadet orchestra who are playing so much more complicated music than you heard in January. For our seventh grade orchestra who learned shifting and they're playing in all these different key signatures.

[00:02:46]They picked really cool songs. And for our eighth grade orchestra, it's their final middle school orchestra concert and they have picked an amazing program.

[00:02:55]So, we're going to kick it off with our cadet orchestra and we're going to hear about our pieces from our speech writers.

[00:03:04]I don't think I can.

[00:03:06]Welcome to our final spring orchestra concert of the 2025 2026 school year. We are the sixth grade cadet orchestra. Our team has worked hard all year learning many new techniques and complex songs.

[00:03:19]My classmates are going to tell you a bit about the songs we'll be presenting tonight.

[00:03:24]This piece is one of our favorites called String Explosion. It's a fun and energetic opener with fast-paced sections that really gets things going throughout the song. Throughout the piece, we use a wide range of dynamics showing changes in volume and intensity to bring the music to life. You'll also hear different rhythmic patterns including combination of eighth notes and eighth rest that we've worked hard to learn all year. We hope you enjoyed listening to Struden.

[00:03:49]>> Our second song is called Clog Dance, a mellow tune that makes you feel like you're at a Renaissance festival. It features a spooky section with low, deep notes that give you that give the song a mysterious feeling. This piece also helped us learn how to play a double stop, which is when you play two strings at once to create a rich sound in the orchestra. This the reason this song is one of our favorites is because everyone gets to play the melody at some part which means that you get to play the main point.

[00:04:18]To close out our portion of the concert, we will be playing Dragon Hunter. This was the very first song we worked on this year that tr that we truly connected with and it has become a favorite for all of us. This piece is designed to take you on an exciting musical adventure. It is filled with the perfect balance of intense suspense and high energy excitement, blending quiet, mysterious moments with loud, upbeat sections that showcase everything we have learned.

[00:04:43]Now that you have heard a bit about each song, we're going to get started. Thank you for coming out tonight to support us and sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the show.

[00:04:52][applause] How cute.

[00:05:25]>> [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:05:43][music] >> [music] >> Heat.

[00:06:07]Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:06:41]Heat.

[00:06:42][music] [music] [applause] Heat.

[00:07:02][cheering and applause] Hallelujah.

[00:07:27]Hallelujah. [music] Heat.

[00:07:34][music] [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:08:02][music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat.

[00:08:47]Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:09:35][music] [music] Heat.

[00:09:54][music] Heat.

[00:10:06][music] >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, [cheering] sixth grade off to a hot start. Hey, I just wanted to quickly remind everyone of an uh an email I sent you a couple of weeks ago regarding summer camp or probably me through Miss Driscoll. Um summer camp this year uh again like last year, two weeks. Uh not starting the first week of summer this year. We're going to be starting Monday, June 8th, and concluding on Friday, uh, June 19th.

[00:10:46]There are a lot of students signed up already. It is shaping up to be an a really outstanding couple of classes. If your student is in sixth grade currently, they'll be in the cadet class, which meets weekdays from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. right here at the high school. And if your student is a current seventh grader or current eighth grader, a lot of current eighth graders sign up, which I love to see. We're going to play some hard fun stuff. It's awesome. Um, those classes are that class is going to meet from 10:15 to 12:15. The other main thing other than the way to sign up for the camp is through the infinite campus store is that the camp is about fun. We like to take where the students are at the end of the school year and extend the material that you just heard, for instance, from the Kad Orchestra. And there are [snorts] thousands of fun pieces that they would love to learn.

[00:11:41]You'll hear it all summer. It'll be great for you. Um so if you haven't already, please consider uh taking a look at the summer camp. Uh a lot of fun activities. Mr. Gatsky, who runs the lights back here, is going to um pull down a giant screen one of the days when we're going to play video games, Mario Kart with the guys four times your size, all sorts, all sorts of really fun stuff. Um so check out the flyer outside the outside the orchestra room. Parents, you can take a look at that email that I sent you a couple of weeks ago and uh we hope to see you there. How about another round of applause for our first two songs from Cadet Orchestra. [applause] Heat.

[00:12:31][music] [music] Heat.

[00:12:44][music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:13:01][music] Heat.

[00:13:07][music] [music] [music] [music] Heat.

[00:13:30][music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Heat.

[00:14:23][music] [music] Heat.

[00:14:35][music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:14:52][music] >> [music] [music] >> Hallelujah.

[00:15:15]Heat. [music] >> [applause] [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> Woo! [cheering] Okay. Yeah. Wow, we're switching and I'm stalling for some time. Weren't those sixth graders amazing? Can we have one more round of applause for Kid Orchestra? [applause] You know, last concert they played a bunch of little baby songs and they were demonstrating their piticado and they had just learn sheet music songs and now they are playing in different key signatures. They're playing a ton of different rhythms. They did amazing. I also want to shout out my two fabulous colleagues, Mrs. Reyes and Mr. Yoke.

[00:16:58]Without them, this cadet orchestra would not be as so good. Did you just booster yoke or did you say Oh, yeah. Okay. All right, Nikki. So, let's have a round of applause for Mrs. Ray and Mr. Yoke.

[00:17:09][applause] [cheering] Okay. Oh, no. [applause] Wait. Okay. All right. Hang on. I'm going to let them do the speeches, I guess. What is this?

[00:17:23]Where do I finish? There we go. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our part of the 2026 Memorial Spring Orchestra concert. We are all very excited to be playing for you tonight.

[00:17:33]And here are the songs we we will be playing.

[00:17:36]>> Stonework is an allrounder piece. It has a steady rocking beat that will keep you on your tones. Each string gets a melody and each string part gets a melody and they're each captivating.

[00:17:49]Planets is a very exciting piece with lots of crescendo and has thrilling and has a thrilling ending that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It features music from Venus, Mars, and Jupiter.

[00:18:00]Our third and final song we will be playing for you tonight is Night Shift, which is a fast-paced song that we learned after shifting and also advanced our skills in shifting. This song will also keep you on your toes with the exciting melody.

[00:18:15]Thank you all for coming and we want to give a huge thank you to Miss Driscoll for everything she has done for us and we hope you enjoy our concert.

[00:18:24][applause] >> [applause] >> Uh, these flowers may or may not have been a not surprise because we were all on one email chain playing connections and then somebody goes, "Should we get Mr. Driscoll flowers?" So, they don't know how to tell who's on the email.

[00:19:39]>> [music] >> Hallelujah.

[00:19:46][music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:20:13][music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:20:28][music] Heat. Heat.

[00:20:39][music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:21:07][music] Heat.

[00:21:21][music] Heat.

[00:21:31][music] Heat. Heat.

[00:21:40][music] [music] Heat.

[00:22:00][music] [music] Heat.

[00:22:21]>> [music] [music] [applause] >> Thank you. [applause] Heat. Heat.

[00:23:14][music] [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:23:37][music] [music] [music] [music] Heat.

[00:24:01][music] [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:24:31][music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:25:01][music] Heat. Heat.

[00:25:07][music] [music] [music] Heat.

[00:25:32][applause] [applause] Heat.

[00:26:05]There you go.

[00:26:10][music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [applause] [applause] >> All right, I'm going to stall for a little bit more time while we got our eighth grade up here. The seventh grade, that last song, they had to learn how to play totally new notes. They had to move their hand up on the fingerboard. That's called shifting. Um, and they did so good. Good. I think that's the most in tune I've heard, their first shifting song ever. So, another round of applause for seventh grade. [applause] Um, you're going to hear from Mrs. Reyes soon. Uh, our first violins are dropping like flies. We have one who's out of town and then also one who took a soccer ball to the wrist. So, Mrs. Reyes is going to fill in for a little extra first violin support. So, that's exciting. and I'm waiting for my speechers to get ready. While I'm doing waiting for them, you might have been looking in your program and saw, "Oh, the eighth grader is playing a song arranged by a mic Driscoll. I wonder if that's a coincidence." It's not. That's my brother. Um, Bolu and Nikki and Evan Heis came up to me and they were like, "We should play a Zelda song." And I was like, "You're speaking my language. It's my favorite video game." And they were like, "We we need an arrangement for it." And I'm like, "Well, I have great news. I have a brother who is a music therapist and also a composer who owes me a bunch of favors and thinks I'm the best sister ever. Um, so he and I actually had a lot of fun putting putting it together. So, shout out to Bolu and Nikki and Evan for putting it giving us that idea and to my brother for writing it. So, [applause] okay.

[00:30:38]Uh, awards first though, right?

[00:30:41]>> Yeah. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I went out of I went a little out of order. All right.

[00:30:46]The next thing we're going to do, I have it written down, is the eighth grade awards. So, give me one second.

[00:31:03]>> Okay, just kidding. We're going to do the eighth grade awards in a second. You guys, >> I love you guys.

[00:31:08]>> Love you.

[00:31:10]>> Is this all the music that you guys have? Oh my god.

[00:31:12]>> Yeah, and I made it.

[00:31:13]>> You guys, >> it's on behalf of everyone. Everyone signed it for you.

[00:31:17]>> You guys beautiful.

[00:31:21][laughter] >> This is for you.

[00:31:24]>> And then we got flowers for Miss Ray.

[00:31:28]>> A Can you get Mr. Yolk up here?

[00:31:30]>> Mr. Yolk, get up here, >> Mr. Yolk.

[00:31:37]I don't have an arm. Let's hug you again.

[00:31:40]>> [applause] [applause] [applause] >> Okay. Right there.

[00:32:05]>> Wow.

[00:32:06]You can't see it because it's really far away, but there's a bunch of music that the eighth graders have played on that poster. That's so cute. Oh, I love it.

[00:32:12]Thank you so much. Okay, now we're going to do eighth grade awards. I'm going to make it through without crying. Uh we'll see how I do. Okay, we usually typically award three orchestra awards. This year, I decided to recognize all of our section leaders as well. Uh because it's not every year that I have section leaders that are as helpful and as leadery as these section leaders are. So the first award is the outstanding section leader award and that goes to Mariana in the first violins, Payton in the second violins, Emerson in the vias, Megan in the cellos. And then all three of our bases elected each other section leader. So we have Isaac, James, and Gino. Come on down.

[00:32:52][applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> That's the right one. This is Isaac.

[00:33:06]Isaac. Isaac.

[00:33:07]>> Okay, we got James. Isaac, while you're stand up here for just one more second, you know. Okay, so seriously, these section leaders, whether they were running their own sectionals, teaching each other the music to help save us time or helping me make decisions, um, or just generally keeping the class running, these were amazing section leaders. So, one more round of applause for section leaders.

[00:33:28]>> [applause] >> Isaac is standing here because normally we don't know who the Memorial Department award winner is, but we do know that it was Isaac this year. So, he won the Memorial Department orchestra department award and I think he was out of town, so he didn't get to hear my speech. I didn't get to give it because I was at Mr. Koma's retirement party.

[00:33:51]Um, but just some facts about Isaac.

[00:33:54]Incredible bass player, very good composer, arranger. He was in our first ever honors orchestra, soul and ensemble, sings in the choir, an amazing musician. So Isaac was our memorial orchestra department award winner.

[00:34:08][applause] [cheering] [applause] >> Okay, the leadership award. This goes outside of just section leader. These are people who are going a little bit above and beyond. They're looking out for people in the orchestra. They're making their opinion known in a really positive way. We have two leadership award winners and that is Katherine and Evan Urbanic. [applause] [cheering] [applause] The performance award goes to somebody who has spent a lot of time with their instrument and they play extremely well and they've really dedicated themselves to being the best musician they can be.

[00:34:57]And normally it's one person. This year it's four people. All of these people have auditioned into Mannheim. They're going to Mannheim camp this summer. Not that they're the only people. Um but they I picked one per instrument. So our performance award winners are Andre who's not here right now. Almsai, Megan, and James.

[00:35:18][applause] >> [applause] >> All right, last and absolutely certainly not least is the best stand partner award. And this is sounds like a silly award, but it is very important to me because it has to do with your character in the orchestra and would I want you representing the orchestra out in the world. Um, these two individuals are actual stand partners this year. That's not a requirement. Um, they are super huge orchestra cheerleaders. Every Friday quiz, they are giving a lot of applause. Sometimes booze where they're needed, but appropriately applied. Um, and every time I look at them, they just bring me joy. And that is Nikki and Bolu.

[00:36:08][applause] [cheering] >> [applause] >> All right. And now we're going to tune and do our eighth grade portion.

[00:36:41][music] >> [music] >> Hello and welcome to our final eighth grade concert. We'll be playing three songs tonight from dark and mysterious to light and hero heroic. This is our last concert before going to high school and it's our best yet.

[00:37:18]Our first song, Algretto, is an exciting, mysterious piece written by Beethoven towards the end of his life.

[00:37:24]With this piece, we learn more difficult rhythms and focus on dynamics or how good we can play loud or soft. Overall, this is a dramatic and captivating song.

[00:37:33]Our second piece is Zelda Medley by Kosi Condo and araged by Mike Driscoll. This song features a medley composed of many famous Legend of Zelda songs. In this piece, we learned how to play complex rhythms while staying in time. It also features a electric guitar and basing along with multiple time and tempo changes.

[00:37:54]Our final p our final piece is Stringman written by Richard Meyer. It has a f fiery atmosphere that follows the adventures of stringman. This piece has a good arrangement of dynamics and helps us learn more difficult triplet patterns. It also has two great solos.

[00:38:12]All in all, it is a very exciting piece.

[00:38:17]>> Hope you we hope you enjoy our last answer.

[00:38:22][applause] Congratulations.

[00:38:49][music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Hey, [music] heat. Hey. [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:40:03][music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat.

[00:40:35][music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:41:03]Heat. [music] [music] Heat.

[00:41:19][music] Heat.

[00:41:31][music] Heat.

[00:41:42][music] Hallelujah.

[00:41:51]Heat.

[00:41:57][music] >> [music] [applause] [applause] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:42:40][music] >> [music] [music] >> I hear [music] [music] [music] you.

[00:43:40][music] Heat. Heat.

[00:43:50][music] [music] >> [music] >> Thank you.

[00:44:29][music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:45:04][music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:45:34][music] [music] Praise [music] [music] God.

[00:46:01][music] Heat.

[00:46:06][music] [music] Heat.

[00:46:25][music] Heat. Heat.

[00:46:36][music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:47:20]>> [music] [applause] [applause] >> Okay, I have to solve for time again.

[00:47:39]Uh, for a reason you'll understand in a second. Um, you guys, oh, that was so cool to get to play a piece that my brother helped write. And I told him, you know, like my eighth grade can play pretty much everything. You could try to put D flats in there. Maybe we'll see if it's in tune. They did it. They crushed it. Can we have another round of applause for them? [applause] [applause] We have fabulous guitar and electric bass player Cam and James did so great. So, I think we're ready.

[00:48:07]There's going to be some surprises in this last eighth grade song. So be ready.

[00:48:36]>> [music] [music] >> Heat.

[00:49:04][music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Help!

[00:49:59][music] [music] Thank you man.

[00:50:30][music] [applause] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Oh, brother. This guy stinks.

[00:51:23]Yeah. [music] [music] [applause] Thank you.

[00:51:53]>> [music] >> Hallelujah.

[00:52:12]Help. [screaming] >> [music] >> No one can do it. [cheering] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:52:52][music] [music] Heat.

[00:53:05][music] [music] [applause] Heat.

[00:53:21][applause] [cheering] >> [cheering] [applause] >> All right, one more round of applause for String Man.

[00:53:47][applause] You bow. You're doing it. Okay. He has to wear that for the last song.

[00:54:05]Okay. Now we do my favorite tradition of the year. As the seventh grade gets on stage quietly and the sixth grade gets on stage quietly, we're all going to play one final tune all together. The eighth grade gets to pick it. So, they picked the song. We're going to play Into the Dragons Den. A couple of reminders as they're getting to their places. Please go to Dairy Queen. The Dairy Queen on Lakes Shore is doing a dime to donate and they do that after every single concert if you just say you're with the orchestra. Um, we will get a portion of the proceeds from tonight. Um, if especially if you're a sixth grade family that maybe like back in January, you were filling out your schedule for next year and you're like, I don't know if I'm good at orchestra. maybe I'll try something else. If you regret that after you got to see all of the cool stuff that we do, it's not too late. So, please make sure that you stick with orchestra. It is definitely worth it.

[00:54:57]And if you've ever seen our high school orchestras, incredible.

[00:55:02]Okay, here we go for Into the Dragon's Den.

[00:55:33]I'll take you, man.

[00:55:58]What's up?

[00:56:11]I feel like needs to work on these six.

[00:56:20]>> You're fine. You're fine.

[00:56:39]Heat. Heat.

[00:56:41][music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:57:04][music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:57:44][music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:58:04][music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:58:33]Heat. Heat.

[00:58:36][music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:59:04][music] [music] Heat.

[00:59:18][music] [music] [music] Heat. [applause and cheering] >> [applause] >> Thank you for a fabulous year. I'll see you at Dairy Queen. Have a good summer.

[00:59:57][applause] That's crazy.

[01:00:43]Holy hat.

[01:01:14]I don't know.

[01:01:30]Thank you.

[01:02:08]And then you're ready to start.

[01:02:45]Yeah.

[01:03:00]Thank you.

[01:03:07]Oh yeah.

[01:03:29]or something. No.

[01:03:45]Congratulations.

[01:04:09]Awesome.

[01:04:31]Doctor, sorry.

[01:05:05]Oh yeah.

[01:05:12]Yeah.

[01:05:15]Imagine I don't know.

[01:06:35]Hi.

[01:06:50]I hated you for that.

[01:07:00]Guess what? I got Perfect.

[01:07:33]>> Yeah.

[01:08:00]Please operation is up. I need