Nakornpayap International School’s Fine Arts Department proudly presented Brass & Beyond, a high school music concert held on Friday, November 28 at 4:30 p.m. in the Harmony Theatre within the school campus. This concert featured performances from both the Grade 9 Concert Band and the High School Senior Band, showcasing their dedication and commitment to the pieces through high-intensity classes since the beginning of the year.

Before the concert started, the audience and performers were given a minute of silence in respect of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara. This moment allowed everyone in the theatre to reflect before going ahead with the evening’s performances. Continuing, the host led us into the Grade 9 Concert Band, who performed a selection of 3 different well-known pieces: Still on My Mind, Marching Song by Gustav Holst, Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies by Peter Tchaikovsky, and Troika by Sergei Prokofiev. The High School Senior Band followed the performance with Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland, Procession of the Nobles by Rimsky-Korsakov, and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. These pieces are around Grade 3 (Intermediate), involving complex rhythmic understanding and articulation, skills which the band had honed.

Although the performance was successful, the audience was smaller than expected. With remarks from one of the performers, “The audience factor only affected the opening song. Personally, I thought the crowd was kinda small, but we had to open with trumpets so we got nervous.” This concert was especially important as there are only two music concerts held each year at Nakornpayap, making every performance a meaningful opportunity for students to share their talent. This year’s Brass & Beyond concert was a successful event that reflected Nakornpayap’s music program and the band members’ commitment.