This is a recording of a concert of the Smoky Hill High School orchestra. The theme was "The Sounds of Hollywood," and the concert consisted of music from movies and TV. It was a fun concert, with live video, lighting effects, and entertaining gimmicks, all part of the grand vision of our conductor Larry West. It took place on March 23 and 24, 2000.
Mr. West died suddenly at a young age while I was in the orchestra. Christian Paetsch was the director in his place. The recorded narration is not by him but by Joe Rice, who as I recall was the band instructor.
I ripped these tracks from a CD sold after the show.
Here is my transcription of the introduction that is read during the "Dragnet" number.
This is the concert of Smoky Hill High School orchestra. [Inaudible] I carry a baton. This is Friday, March 24, at 7:30 PM [Inaudible] My boss is Doctor Mary Jarvis, my partner, Joe Rice. My name is West, Larry West.
These are the musicians, teenagers skilled in the art of music production. Supported by parents, exhibiting hours of tedious practice. These musicians wanting to produce for your evening of enjoyment a concert out of the norm, uncommon to the highbrow attitude commonly associated with symphony orchestras. Exploring the fantasies of the mind, and influences of movie soundtrack composers.
The concert you are about to see you are about to see is not [inaudible]. The performers' names have not been changed and are hopefully spelled correctly in your program. Drama is much less effective without the emotional impact of music. These composers represented this evening are masters of their art.
Now you can close your eyes and imagine the visual images portrayed from movies and television by these composers.
For one of the songs we performers all put on sunglasses. It might have been this one.
“Your mission this evening, should you choose to accept it, is to continue to support the orchestra program at Smoky Hill High School. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Five, four, three, two, one...”
“Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.”
M3U Playlist of all the songs: Ogg Vorbis, MP3.