ECU School of Music to hold Bandorama

The East Carolina University School of Music will perform its next Bandorama concert and showcase the talents of its students in Wright Auditorium tonight at 7:30.

Bandorama is an event that has been occurring at ECU for almost 25 years, according to director of bands in the school of music Scott Carter.

Carter is responsible for coordinating three different bands to perform tonight. These bands include wind ensemble, symphonic band and concert band. Roughly 150 students will perform as part of tonight’s show, according to Carter.

Second year graduate student Benjamin Reyes is pursuing a master’s degree of music in instrumental conducting. He graduated from ECU in 2016 with a degree in music education and will conduct at Bandorama tonight.

“Despite the different levels of the band, the shared interest of band music and a love for performing is consistent among each group and makes it an awesome experience to both watch and participate in,” Reyes said.

The concert band consists of mostly non-music majors who are passionate about band and love to play for fun, according to Reyes. The graduate student said rehearsals for all three bands have been happening since October.

The symphonic band is the intermediate band and mostly made up of music majors and the wind ensemble is the highest level of musicianship and will have both music majors and graduate students performing in it, according to Reyes.

“We spend several weeks in rehearsal, and the students are very good and very disciplined and motivated. They want to do well and are planning their careers around performing or teaching. For them to go out and do well is the best thing for me,” Dr. Carter said.

Attendees should expect to hear standard band repertoire, marches, slow music, overtures and symphonies. Dr. Carter mentioned that William Staub, the director of the ECU Marching Pirates and associate director of Bands is conducting a ballet piece.

Sophomore criminal justice major Carson Durham has been a part of band for two years. She is a part of the concert band performing tonight and said she expects that it will be better than those held in the past.

“I love the process of working on the music to make it the best it can be and I also love bringing joy to people when we perform,” Durham said. “I expect this Bandorama to be one of the better ones we have had. All of the bands have been working hard and are looking forward to performing all of the pieces to the best of our abilities.”

Dr. Carter said Bandorama is done three times a year, with this performance being the second one. The third performance will take place in April.

“Bandorama is an educational mission for us. It costs money to put it on, but it’s free and will remain that way. We’re there to learn from the music and the experience from preparing the music. It’s an educational endeavor. You work and work and work then put your product out there,” Dr. Carter said.

Admission is free for both students and the general public. Music appreciation students receive credit for attending the event.