This year’s Fall Concert was on November 6th, performed by the Concert Band, Symphonic Band, CC Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, and CC Symphony at Concord Carlisle High School. 

Each year, students have the opportunity to showcase their skills at their first concert of the school year and everything they’ve worked on so far. Opportunities like these truly show off the hard work and dedication that has gone into ever class and practice up until this point. This year, the overall theme for the 2025 Fall Concert was Interpretation. “Specifically examining how artists – in this case, composers and performers – interpret artistic works,” Mr. Noce, the director of the CC Band and Orchestra, says. 

The familiar tune of the famous Shaker song “Simple Gifts” was heard throughout the evening, exploring the theme of Interpretation through the ensembles. A Shaker song is a type of religious folk music known for its simplicity and focus on spiritual themes. The program explored the theme of Interpretation by “examining how composers rework, rethink, and adapt existing works of art,” Mr. Noce explains. In this case, the Shaker song.

That said, this was not the only Shaker song to be heard at the event, though. While the Symphonic Band performed Frank Ticheli’s “Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs,” the CC Wind Ensemble similarly showcased a Shaker song for their performance. Leaning into the idea of Interpretation, the Wind Ensemble played John Zdechlik’s “Chorale and Shaker Dance.” Additionally, the CC Symphony also partook in performing a Shaker song, to which they performed Aaron Copland’s “Variations on a Shaker Melody.” 

While there were several opportunities in which Shaker songs were used, Noce added that they also included “musical interpretations of poetry, American folk music and Japanese folklore” in the performance as well.

“The Fall Concert is always an energizing way to start the year,” Mr. Noce says. He loves how the Fall Concert challenges the band and orchestra students, providing an opportunity for them to share their progress at the end of the first term each year.

Even though there are many struggles when balancing ensemble development with concert preparation in the beginning of the school year, Noce, much like others who had the joy of attending the event, feels as though “the bands and orchestras at CC never fail to deliver an engaging and impressive performance.”