Winter Concert
Cheryl and I attended the Pitman High School winter band concert. Our #3 child, Betsy, plays the clarinet in the Symphonic Band. I've always enjoyed going to school concerts -- even when they involve other people's children. Tonight's concert, though, was especially well done -- and memorable for three reasons:

1. The Concert Band was the tightest C.B. I've heard at Pitman -- especially this early in the year. Bodes well for the future. They did three great pieces.

2. The Symphonic Band did a beautiful job -- especially with a very moving piece by Frank Ticheli called An American Elegy -- composed in memory of the victims and survivors of the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999. It is an incredibly rich piece of music and it was played with great force and sensitivity.

They will be playing it again on Thursday evening (December 8th) when the Stanislaus Wind Ensemble and the Pitman High Symphonic Band perform in Snider Recital Hall at CSU Stanislaus. (7:30 p.m., $8/general, $6/student -- benefits the university's music scholarship fund).

3. The symphonic band played the Concerto for Horn No. 1, Op. 11, by Richard Strauss and did a great job. It was the French Horn solo by junior Richey Winkler that made it shine.