A mixture of quick-paced and leisurely wind pieces echoed through the Dvorak Concert Hall as the Eastern Concert Band combined contemporary and classic band literature during their concert “Wind Band” classics on Tuesday.

Danelle Larson, a music professor and the director of the Eastern Concert Band, said the band tried hard to pick a variety of music to perform.

“We tried to have different styles, something that hopefully everyone in the audience would like,” Larson said. “We had pretty contemporary, slow, very fast, military band music, and marches.”

Haley Ashby, a sophomore art major and an oboe player with the Concert Band, said she thought the performance went well.

“Everyone seemed very confident in their performances,” Ashby said.

Larson said the students did a great job and the audience seemed to like the performance.

“They were an appreciative crowd, they were very loud,” Larson said. “There was a lot of applause for our solos and our guest conductor.”

Emily Braden, a senior family and consumer sciences major, said she enjoyed the performance.

“It reminded me of the days I was in band,” Braden said.

Michael Began, a graduate student in the music department, was the guest conductor for “Irish Tune from County Derry.”

Larson said working with guest conductors is a great experience for both the band and the guest conductor.

“Students are exposed to new musical ideas, doing things one way someone else wouldn’t do,” Larson said. “And it is great experience for the conductors also to work with different ensembles.”

O’Dell said she liked “On the Mall Concert March” where audience members could clap and whistle along.

“It was something I recognized and it was really up beat,” O’Dell said.

Chrissy Harmon, a freshman music major and a clarinet player with the band, said her favorite piece was “An Original Suite for Military Band.”

“It was very diverse in all the movement and was every exciting and a great piece to open the show,” Harmon said.

Harmon said she thinks the concert was great.

“We put a lot of work into this concert and it was a rough semester, but it came together,” Harmon said.

Bailey O’Dell, a freshman kinesiology and sports studies major, said this is her first time seeing a concert like the performance.

“It was really interesting to see something new,” O’Dell said.

Samantha McDaniel can

be reached at 581-2812

or [email protected].