A review: Bands, dancers leave audience wide-eyed at ‘For Your Eyes Only’
MADISON – “For Your Eyes Only” dazzled the audience’s senses with marching and jazz, skillfully delivered by Bob Jones High School and Discovery Middle School bands on Oct. 22.
Bob Jones High School Band performs at “For Your Eyes Only.” (PHOTO/GREGG PARKER)
Discovery’s marching unit, “Pride of the Panthers,” was confident, even with 30-plus seventh-graders new to band. Discovery opened with Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al.” Mellophone player Dylan Meyer’s solo led the band into The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.”
Eighth-grader Ryan Shea is Discovery’s drum major and plays valve trombone in jazz band and baritone in symphonic band. “I loved getting to see the kids perform,” Pete Shea, Ryan’s father, said. “They’re amazing.” Pete’s older son, Cameron Shea, is a sophomore trombonist at Bob Jones.
Director Monroe Murray “has done a tremendous job of instilling a love of music,” Shea said.
Next, the Bob Jones Patriettes mirrored the finesse of New York’s Rockettes with their high kicks and line ‘waves’ to fast-paced tracks, like “A Little Party Didn’t Kill Nobody.”
Both schools’ jazz bands showed this musical genre’s unique techniques. Discovery Jazz Band performed “Bossa Merida,” “Mood Indigo” and “My Funny Valentine.”
In their premiere year, Bob Jones jazz musicians offered “La Suerte de Los Tontos,” old-school slow groove of “Watermelon Man” and “Get It On” with a trumpet/trombone battle.
Between band sets, Dance Trance Huntsville-Madison entertained with upbeat routines that combine exercise, line dance and moves of a dance line.
Bob Jones performed two marching shows. Their halftime program had toes tapping with “Good Feelin’,” “Ain’t No Other Man” and “Smooth Criminal.” Doyle Thornton is director, and Leigh Thomas is assistant director.
“For Your Eyes Only,” Bob Jones’ competition show, was a kaleidoscopic mosaic, blending music, dance and theater. Ryan Rogers portrayed tuxedoed Bond in a tug-of-war for his attache case with Bond girl Suzi Day and nemesis David Mercier.
Thomas wrote the drill, with consultation from color guard instructor Brooke Howe and adjunct staff member John Howe. The band played “African Rundown” from “Casino Royale” and title tracks from “Diamonds Are Forever,” “You Only Live Twice,” “Goldeneye” and “Skyfall.”
“Academically, studies show students who study music also do better in math, reading and language arts,” Shea said. “Band students are routinely top performers in other classes.”
Shea compared reading music to learning a foreign language. “Understanding music’s structure helps kids with analytical and abstract thinking. Performing in a band teaches students about working together to achieve goals where the whole result is always greater than the sum of individual parts.”
