Medfield's Annual Band-O-Rama Spotlights Students' Musical Talents [Video]

was bursting with music Monday night as the fifth grade band, sixth grade band, seventh and eighth grade band, and the high school band performed for family and friends.

The "Band-O-Rama" is designed to showcase each band individually to highlight the students' progression over the year, but also to show students and parents alike what is waiting at the next level.

The one-hour program included:

• Fifth Grade Band: "Cardiff Castle" and "Popcorn Prelude"
• Sixth Grade Band: "A Prehistoric Suite" and "Patriotic Bits & Pieces"
• Seventh and Eighth Grade Band: "El Alamein" and "Thingamajig"
• High School Concert Band: "Americans We" and "Incantation and Dance"

For the closing number, all bands played "America." Monday's performance was the first time the bands played the piece together, and the audience was visibly impressed.

Ryan Dexter is the band director for the elementary and middle school bands.  Douglas Olsen directs the high school band and is the Director of Music for the Medfield Public Schools.

"Real learning is not just the study of things, but an experience inside things.  Making music is surely one of life's most real experiences," Olsen wrote in this year's concert brochure. "Learning to make personal judgments that are rational and grounded in knowledge and preparation is essential to mature thinking. Making music offers one the opportunity to practice and perform while making hundreds of important decisions and musical judgments every minute."