The instrumental music departments of Nitschmann, Northeast, East Hills and Broughal middle schools united once again for their annual All City concert the evening of Feb. 2 at Northeast MS.

The concert brought together 94 student instrumentalists from the band departments at each school and was coordinated and conducted by instrumental instructors Christy Davies of East Hills MS, Adam Stoltz of Broughal MS, Brian Rupnik of Northeast MS and Daniel Zettlemoyer of Nitschmann MS. Zettlemoyer was not able to be at the concert, but his students participated. The students gathered at Northeast MS to rehearse for several hours the mornings of Feb. 1 and 2.

Every year, students are selected to participate in the All City Concert, largely based on academic and musical performance, and they have very little time to learn most of the concert pieces, Rupnik explained. The instructors each chose two pieces of music that they will conduct for the concert and practice those pieces with their students at their respective schools.

“The students do not see any of the music the teachers from the other schools have chosen until these group rehearsals,” Rupnik said.

“That means that in less than five hours of rehearsals, these students will have learned nine songs and prepared for a concert,” Davies explained. “These students work incredibly hard over the two days, and we are so excited to show off their hard work.”

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the All City Concert could fortunately continue uninterrupted over the past two years. Each year, the band and orchestra departments alternate as to which department will host the concert. The band performed for the 2020 All City concert in February just before schools were closed. The following year featured the orchestra, for which all participating students could wear masks for the entire performance and teachers only selected six students per school.

This year, the district heeded all recommended CDC precautions for this year’s concert, allowing for as normal circumstances as possible while still being safe. Students were required to wear special masks designed for wind and brass instrumentalists and bell covers throughout the rehearsals and performance.

These special masks have a small slit in the front, allowing the instrumentalist to blow through the mouthpiece while layers of fabric surround the mouthpiece to keep particles from escaping. The slit can be covered when the instrumentalist is not playing, allowing the mask to be worn as a regular mask. Flautists’ masks have this same small opening in the front, covered by a large pocket with openings on the sides where the flautist inserts the flute. Bell covers are fabric coverings that stretch over the bells of brass and wind instruments to catch particles flowing out on the instrumentalist’s breath.

Additionally, the concert was only filled to half capacity and the performers left the stage every 30 minutes for several minutes at a time to clear the air.

“I think we are all grateful just to be able to make music together, as so much of that was taken away during the pandemic,” Davies said.

Besides teaching and rehearsing with their orchestra, band and jazz ensembles at their respective schools, Davies, Zettlemoyer, Rupnik and Stoltz organize the actual performances. They coordinate music, programs, tickets and set-up and spearhead communication with parents. The primary focus of all this effort, Davies emphasized, is the students.

“Music is a home for all students,” Davies said. “I think the biggest impact is that music accepts all skill levels. We want as many students as possible to have the opportunity to be a part of something great like the music programs in BASD. In addition to playing music, these students learn skills such as time management, organization and teamwork, which are skills they will need their whole lives.

“We are very grateful to be able to have this opportunity to play together.” Davies added. “We would not be able to accomplish this without the support of the parents, families and the BASD administration.”

Instrumental instructor Adam Stoltz at Broughal MS, conducts the 94-student ensemble while his colleagues Brian Rupnik of Northeast MS and Christy Davies of East Hills MS assist individual students.