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Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. Areas of freezing fog. High around 40F. Winds light and variable..
Mainly clear. Areas of freezing fog. Low 27F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: December 11, 2022 @ 6:10 am
The KMS Warrior Concert Band, under the direction of Krystal Bottorff, entertained at the school on Wednesday. This group is comprised of students who have more than just a basic knowledge of their instrument.
The KMS K-Det Band is comprised of students, most of whom had never even held their instrument before this school year. Crystal Bottorff, the director, works with them so they can move on to the Warrior Concert Band and, hopefully, ultimately to the high school band.
The KMS Warrior Concert Band, under the direction of Krystal Bottorff, entertained at the school on Wednesday. This group is comprised of students who have more than just a basic knowledge of their instrument.
The KMS K-Det Band is comprised of students, most of whom had never even held their instrument before this school year. Crystal Bottorff, the director, works with them so they can move on to the Warrior Concert Band and, hopefully, ultimately to the high school band.
The Keokuk Middle School gym saw parents and friends gathered for the Winter Concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8 when band director Krystal Bottorff and her students performed for about a large audience. The concert featured the K-Det Band – about 33 students who are mostly brand new to playing an instrument and who have never performed in public before – and the Warrior Concert Band, around 40 “seasoned” performers.
The K-Det Band opened with a couple of Christmas tunes and a selection called “Point Five” that showed off what they have learned about the art of coaxing music out of an instrument, up to this point.
Next the Warrior Concert Band took over and presented a good arrangement of our “National Anthem,” followed by a slow piece, “Falling Leaves,” that featured long, melodic lines.
Then Bottorff switched gears and presented “Electricity,” which was described in the program as a “Race Around the Circuit.” It featured an percussion instrument, a tam tam, a type of gong, which was played with half of it dipped in a tub of water. The piece was rhythmic and driving until a “blackout” occurred, at which time the tam tam got into the act and things slowed down to a crawl. Suddenly the “circuit” got repaired and the allegro tempo resumed until the end of the piece.
The two bands joined forces and added guest performers for the finale. Sarah Vigen had played the piano for some of the pieces, and now other instrumentalists joined the young performers to play “Jingle Bell Jam” and the finale “’Handel’ for Christmas,” an arrangement of the “Hallelujah Chorus” with a touch of “Joy to the World” mixed in.
As listed on the program, a few of the exciting upcoming events for these young musicians include: “World Tour” for all KMS band members on Friday, Dec. 16; Concert band trip to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on Feb. 21; All-City Concert with all Keokuk School District band members in grades 5-12 on Friday, March 3; K-Det Band trip to the Quincy, Illinois, Symphony Orchestra on Friday March 24.
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Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. Areas of freezing fog. High around 40F. Winds light and variable.
Mainly clear. Areas of freezing fog. Low 27F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Mainly cloudy. Areas of freezing fog. High near 40F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.
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