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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2018 • 1C
Photos by Damian Mulinix/Chinook Observer
Ilwaco concert band seniors Allyson Wagner, Isabel Aguilar and Madelyn Skillings tried to hold back emotions while being honored for their four years in the
band by music director Rachel Lake during their final concert of the year on June 4.
ENDING ON
A HIGH NOTE
ILWACO HIGH SCHOOL’S YEAR-END CONCERT
FULL OF MUSIC, TEARS AND MEMORIES
By DAMIAN MULINIX
Chinook Observer
I
LWACO, Wash. — Music can be
an excellent distraction sometimes,
especially when you’re feeling sad
or wistful for another time. Such was
the case at last week’s final Ilwaco High
School band concert, which not only
allowed both the symphonic and jazz
bands to perform, but also for music
director Rachel Lake to honor her grad-
uating seniors one last time.
Marching along
The symphonic band began their
set with “Jai Ho” by AR Rahman, from
“Slumdog Millionaire,” followed by
one of John Phillip Souza’s most well-
known works, “Liberty Bell March.”
The band was then off to the high
seas for “March to the Scaffold,”
which Lake said she pulled from her
files because she “wanted something
different.”
“You’ll hear minor keys, major keys,
some Italian roots, some French roots
— and then you’ll hear a pirate,” she
said while introducing it.
Lake described the song “This is
Me” from the recent musical film “The
Greatest Showman” as dear to her heart
because it symbolizes the values she
tries to instill in her students.
“The value that I put into each and
every one of these students is to make
sure that they be the best person they
can be,” she said.
Recognition
Lake took time to recognize the
members of a sextet from the sym-
phonic band who competed at a Wash-
ington Interscholastic Activities Associ-
ation state-level competition.
“First time in Ilwaco history. This is
the first year an instrumentalist — let
alone a group of instrumentalists — has
had the opportunity and earned the right
to go to our state competition and com-
pete against much larger schools,” she
said.
After calling them forward — Bella
Brownlee, Devin Cavness, Catherine
Johnson, Emma Lake, Marquee Mar-
agos and Nallelly Valenzuela — Lake
gave each a patch that could be put
on their letterman jackets denoting the
accomplishment.
The symphonic band’s nine seniors
were honored by Lake for their years
The Ilwaco High School jazz band
performed at their year-end concert
on June 4 in the Hilltop Auditorium.
Ilwaco High School music director Rachel Lake presented senior Devin Cav-
ness with a statue to honor his time with the IHS jazz band during the final
band concert of the school year.
in the music program at IHS. Lake had
small statuettes made for each senior
in both bands that depict them playing
their instrument. Maddy Chabot’s fig-
ure featured her “faux hawk” hairstyle.
Lake also took the time to relate a story
or two about each senior before hand-
ing them their statue, causing more than
a few of them — including Lake — to
tear up.
“This is the first group where almost
every senior has been with me for six
years,” Lake said, noting how she had
most of them in middle school as well.
“It’s unbelievable.”
The band closed the set with their
take on the theme from the film “The
Avengers” by Alan Silvestri.
Latin lovers
The IHS jazz band opened with a
pair of Latin jazz numbers — “Miss
Mango” and “Soul Sauce” — separated
by their saxophone feature, “Groove
Merchant.” The band has excelled with
the upbeat Latin songs this year. “Miss
Mango” featured Jose Mendez-Hernan-
dez playing the güiro, a Latin Ameri-
can percussion instrument played with
a stick. Meanwhile, Carper managed to
play his trumpet and the shaker at the
same time.
“We’ve been working really hard
this year at getting better at our craft,”
said Lake, before pointing out that their
performance of “Miss Mango” at the
Bellevue Jazz Festival — a competition
usually reserved for large schools —
earned the band second place. “We’re a
tiny school doing large things.”
“Soul Sauce,” written by Dizzy
Gillespie, featured a call-and-response
portion led by senior Emeri Wilson on
trumpet, with the other horns trying to
repeat her phrases.
Mendez-Hernandez was given the
spotlight during “Blues Bari Pie,” as he
led and soloed on his baritone sax for
much of the song, only breaking to give
bassist McKenzie Mulinix an extended
solo. Mulinix also received recognition
from Lake earlier in the set for receiv-
ing the outstanding soloist award from
the Bellevue Jazz Festival.
Special seniors
Just like during the concert band
portion, the jazz band seniors were also
honored with statuettes and remem-
brances from Lake. She noted the class
meets during “zero” period, at 7 a.m., an
hour before school starts.
“This group of seniors has fought to
make sure their schedule contains this
class,” Lake said. “And I really, really
appreciate this group of seniors, making
sure that music was important to them.”
The group of four seniors included
Maddy Chabot, Wilson, Carper and
Cavness. Lake noted that she would try
not to get as emotional as she did with
the concert band, since the jazz band
still had gigs to play this year, including
June 17 at the Garlic Festival in Ocean
Park.
“These seniors and I have been
through a lot,” Lake said. “We got stuck
in an elevator for, like, 45 minutes.
These kids have grown musically and
they’ve matured. You can never replace
anyone in a group where there’s only 14
of us. So it’s very difficult to find any-
one to fill their shoes.”
Lake said a few words about each
senior before presenting their statue.
“Devin, I really appreciate all the
music you’ve played.”
“Emeri, your stories, I will miss them
so much. You’ve shared all these things
with me and I’ll remember them.”
“The number one comment I got
about Noah this year was, ‘He can play
two instruments at once?’ because he
plays shaker while he plays trumpet.
You’re going to go down in history for
playing the shaker — in perfect time
— while playing the trumpet, which is
really hard to do!”
“Maddy played the oboe when we
first met in middle school, and your
playing got really good. But then you
decided you didn’t want to do oboe any-
more. Alto saxophone is her gift.”
The band finished on a high note,
ending their set with anther uptempo
number, Gordan Goodwin’s “Backrow
Politics,” featuring the trumpet section,
which, Lake noted, “is the best it has
ever sounded.”