The Oak Park band department held its first Fall Concert Wednesday, Oct. 14. The concert featured the jazz band, strings club and wind ensemble.

In past years, due to the group’s size and lack of preparation, the band department’s only had winter and spring concerts. But this year, the musicians were ready to add a third concert to their calendar.

“Before, our department wasn’t as developed; we didn’t have as many ensembles, we didn’t have as much music, and we just didn’t feel ready in terms of the music,” junior flute player Katie Gu said. “This year, we prepared a lot. We felt really ready and we wanted to show how much our department has expanded and grown over the years.”

Because the group had limited time to work with, the concert only featured the jazz band and wind ensemble. However, concert band members still attended the concert to support their fellow musicians.

“It was really good,” sophomore and concert band saxophone player Lucas Valencia said. “It was surprising how little of a time they spent and how will they did. They did a lot in that short amount of time. It was amazing.”

The concert began with a performance by the jazz band. Musicians nonchalantly busted out sunglasses to fully immerse themselves in the jazz mood.

During the first song, “Pick Up the Pieces,” student technicians were given the opportunity to play with the lighting. The audience watched as the lights changed color to the beat of the music.

“I want to give a shout out to our tech guys [juniors Sohrob Keynejad and Breck Kalinke] in the booth up there,” band director Zachary Borquez said to the audience as the piece concluded. “During ‘Pick Up the Pieces,’ I wanted to get a little experimental [with the lights] to see what we could do for future concerts, so I told them to go for it.”

Sophomore percussionist Peter Ye was trying to shout “pick up the pieces” at the audience during the song, but found that the audience could not hear him without a microphone. His shouting was drowned out by the music as audience members curiously watched him wave his arms frantically on stage.

“Our first song was ‘Pick Up the Pieces.’ That’s what Peter was trying to say over there,” Borquez said to laughing audience members. “It’s a line in the song.”

After the jazz band finished up with a performance of “The Incredibles” soundtrack, there was a brief intermission to allow audience members to stretch their legs, maybe dabble a little by the bake sale and to give time for the wind ensemble to set up.

After the intermission, the audience was given a surprise debut performance by the Strings Club. Although the performance wasn’t flawless, junior Strings Club President and violist Cameron Audras said he sees potential in the group.

“It was a good first start for the group and I can only see it going upwards from here,” Audras said.

After the string players left the stage, it was time for the wind ensemble to play. The musicians played four songs in total, including “Fantasia 2000.”

During the wind ensemble performance, Borquez also gave a brief shout-out to sophomore clarinet player Ray Zhang, who was recently accepted to be a part of this year’s All-National Concert Ensemble.

“Ray’s been just a really one of those stand-out musicians,” Borquez said.

As the concert concluded, Borquez thanked the audience members for their contributions and encouraged them to come back for future performances.

“I’m really excited to share what the concert band’s been working on in the winter concert,” Borquez said.

Many musicians said they believe that the first Fall Concert was successful.

“I think it went really well,” Gu said. “I think I did my best and I think everyone here did their best too.”