Concert, Symphonic bands return to stage

Bands performing live for first time in over a year Saturday

Por California State University, Bakersfield

15 de November de 2021

California State University, Bakersfield’s Concert and Symphonic Bands will be performing live in front of an audience this week for the first time in over a year.

The bands are participating in a joint concert on Nov. 20 at the Doré Theatre, their first in-person performance since the spread of COVID-19 caused the university to shut down in-person instruction and activities in March 2020.

“The students are so happy about performing in person again,” said Director of Instrumental Studies Dr. Leo Sakomoto. “They’ve been working really hard all semester. I hope they feel they’re appreciated and that their work has been worth the effort.”

CSUB student Reyna Garcia Cabrera has mixed emotions about the upcoming concert, as this will be her last performance playing the trumpet with the Symphonic Band. Garcia will be graduating in December with a bachelor’s degree in music education.

“It’s exciting, but it’s also sad,” she said. “Even though it’s coming to an end, I’ll still be able to play with the people that I’m in an ensemble with, and that makes me happy. It’s kind of a good sad.”

For other students, the concert will be their first live performance at CSUB. Vanessa Aguilar is a senior but transferred to the university from Bakersfield College last fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

She is a member of the Concert Band and will be performing live with her clarinet for the first time since coming to CSUB last year. She had previously played at BC.

“I’m excited and very nervous. It’s been about five years since I’ve done a concert,” she said.

A difficult journey

The journey toward this week’s performance has been a long and challenging one. When COVID-19 hit, the bands were preparing for their big spring performance.

“Everything was lining up really well,” Dr. Sakomoto said. “The numbers were up in terms of enrollment. We were in a good place and had a lot of good momentum, and the pandemic kind of just killed all of that. That was a tough pill to swallow.”

Band members had to adjust to practicing over Zoom and doing more individual practice during the rest of the school year.

“We were doing Zoom classes where students can’t really hear each other, which is a fundamental part of the ensemble experience,” Dr. Sakomoto said. “Playing music together online virtually in real time was very demanding and caused a lot of latency. It was pretty much impossible to replicate a true ensemble experience.”

Aguilar said she would also often be instructed to practice a section of music, record it and submit it for feedback.

“That was so hard because I’m the only one playing, with nobody to really guide me. I made so many mistakes,” she said. “It was a big change to learning, but it gave me an opportunity to kind of ease back into band and not have to jump into the deep end. It was a good place for me to start.”

Aguilar said having to focus more on individual practice helped her hone her skills and better appreciate the importance of practicing as a team.

“I never realized how much I relied on the people around me to ground me on where I’m at in the music,” she said. “It forced me to really focus in on it, to really know what the music is all about. We still have to listen to those around us, because we are not only listening for where we’re at in the music but we’re listening to keep our sound balanced. That’s very important.”

Together at last

This semester, band members were finally able to practice together in person again. However, the bands have significantly fewer members than before COVID-19.

Concert Band, which includes community members and the most experienced student players at CSUB, has 35 members when it used to have 45 or 50, Dr. Sakomoto said. The student-only Symphonic Band has been even more impacted, with about 14 members instead of the 40 or 50 students the band used to have.

Despite being understaffed, Aguilar said being together in-person again has been great.

“Coming back to school, it was surreal at first,” she said. “It was like ‘I’m actually here in the band room playing with everybody.’ I’ve missed that. The whole thing about band and music in general is the community, how we are always supporting each other. Not having that interaction as much online didn’t feel good. Having that back now is awesome.”

Garcia Cabrera said the first in-person rehearsal was moving for a lot of the Symphonic Band members as well.

“We all took a moment and were like 'wow, we’re back,'” she said. “Everything you do when you play with a group is based on listening to what’s happening in front of you in real time. To not have that, it’s like a sense being taken away from you. Music is an experience, a feeling.”

Practices were a bit rough when students first began rehearsing together earlier this semester. However, Dr. Sakomoto said the bands continued to do better and better with each rehearsal.

“Seeing the progress we’ve made together, it’s easy to forget we’re still in a pandemic,” he said. “They’ve learned a lot this semester. They’re learning how to listen to each other again, getting into the groove of things again. I hope they feel proud being part of something that’s bigger than each of us.”

Aguilar, who plans to graduate next year and hopes to become a music teacher, said the bands will be able to demonstrate that progress to their families and the community with Saturday’s concert.

“There’s something about showcasing what you’ve learned, what you’ve worked so hard for,” she said. “I hope everybody will see that we’re so excited to do this performance and that we’ve been looking forward to coming back and doing this.”

The concert will be held at 7 p.m. at the Doré Theatre. Tickets are $7 and must be purchased online here. CSUB students can get in free with their ID but must also order a ticket online.