New music teacher puts on first concert in Plains

Plains High School held what might be its first Fall Concert last week in the gymnasium.

It was also the first concert for the school's new music teacher, Loren Lauridson, who started the job at the end of August and immediately began rehearsing for the Fall Concert, which included the high school choir, band and the new percussion ensemble.

"The students did a great job and truly showed how talented they are," said Dr. Kathleen Walsh, the new school superintendent. "I am looking forward to our winter high school and junior high concert. I know it will be amazing!" she added.

Just over 100 people attended the concert last Tuesday evening, which began with Lauridson giving the crowd some of his background.

The opening number, "Firefly," was performed by the five members of the choir, which included sopranos Abigail Wessely and Randie Kilgore and altos Maddie Carter, Kaylynn Boes and Kennedy Starika. This is the first year for choir for Starika, Carter and Kilgore. Wessely has been with the choir for seven years and Boes has been a member for three years.

This was also the first time for foreign exchange student Izzy Bakker to play any kind of instrument. The junior is from the Netherlands and decided to join the band and play the drums. She was also part of the percussion ensemble where she played the bass drum. She said she wanted to join the band and the drums were the best instrument to learn for a beginner. The drum line also included Joe Martin, Sam Feliksa and Brenden Vanderwall. The four played "Warthog", a piece by Cassidy Byars.

The high school band played two pieces, "Bolero," an arrangement by Johnnie Vinson, and the John Philip Sousa 1896 piece called "El Capitan," one of 136 marches he composed. The choir also sang "Magpie" by Ruth Schram. Plains resident Sydne Connolly accompanied the choir on the piano, as she has done numerous times in the past. Band members also included: Layla Harris, Mackenzie Tulloch, Claire Lakko, Peyton Wasson, Cecilia Harris, Greg Tatum, Stanley Decker, Keegan Huffman, Kalem Ercanbrack, Alexander Horodyski, Logan Steinebach, Ashley Ferlan, Hallie Tompkins, and Cooper Meredith.

Kevin Meredith, the elementary school principal and formerly the high school principal, has been with the school for eight years and doesn't think they've ever had a fall concert. "I feel they did a good job and I can see lots of growth from when they first started this fall," said Principal Ryon Noland.

Feliksa has played the drums for about eight years and has been in and out of the school band for about four years, but said the new music teacher is an excellent instructor. "He's really helped me with my hand coordination and rhythm," said Feliksa, a senior. Vanderwall, also a senior, mentioned how much Lauridson has helped him in the short time he's been there. "He can play every instrument and teaches us really well and he really connects with us," said Vanderwall, who has played drums since the sixth grade and is learning the marimba and the xylophone.

The concert lasted only about 20 minutes, but Noland said they did an exceptional job. Lauridson also felt the kids did a nice job. "I've given them some hard music to do and they've done well with it," said Lauridson, who graduated from the University of Montana with a music education degree in 2022. He grew up in Missoula and graduated from Sentinel High School in 2018. He and his students are working on music for a Veterans Day assembly on ‪Nov. 9 at 1:50 p.m.‬ in the high school gymnasium.

"The concert was short and sweet. We had a lot of other tunes to rehearse for the pep band so I was not able to spend as much time on concert tunes," said Lauridson, who added that atthe next concert they will be playing and singing a lot more pieces.

Noland said the concert was a nice way for the students to showcase their talents. "One of the components to music classes is to perform, as per the state standards, and outside of the normal events, like holidays and end of the year, there are not generally many opportunities for students to do that," the principal said.