Guests listen in at the Symphony Band concert

The semester has come to an end for Troy’s Symphony Band, after the band’s last concert took place on Tuesday. 

Conducted mostly by Director of Bands Dr. Mark Walker, the concert also featured three graduate assistant guest conductors, who each got to choose any piece they wanted to conduct. One of the guest conductors said he appreciated the opportunity to create a special moment for both him and the students. 

“It's incredibly moving to share that opportunity with them,” said Michael Olson, a graduate assistant from Tarpon Springs, Florida. “These students spend a lot of time in a lot of ensembles doing a lot of work in all of their classes and for them to work so hard and come together on a night like this and share such a spectacular concert with everyone -- you just can’t ask for anything better.” 

With a total of five conductors in the show, and three of them getting to decide whatever they wanted to play, the students in the ensemble were exposed to multiple different styles of music, performance and leadership in preparation for the concert.  

This gave them a little taste for their potential future as professionals. 

“It makes us all think differently about the music, because if we're going to spend all this time and all these years focusing on one conductor, we’re not going to really learn all of the challenges of what it really takes when we go out into the real world and have to be under the leadership of different people all the time constantly,” said Tosh Teeter, a senior interdisciplinary studies major from Ozark, Alabama. “It helps us progress in a different way because we always have a different outlook.” 

That same diversity of pieces grabbed the attention of the crowd as well. One audience member said she was extremely impressed by the ensemble’s ability to perform almost anything in their own way. 

“I always find it really impressive how they have so many things going on at the same time,” said Maddison Royal, a freshman social work major from Enterprise, Alabama. “They always go from concert place to place so it’s always really exciting to see what they prepare. 

“I play one of the pieces that they performed with a different ensemble, and I was really interested to see how a different ensemble would sound playing that piece.” 

The fifth conductor was Dr. Jerianne Larson, the assistant director of bands and the conductor of Troy’s Symphonic Band.