When the new school year begins, students and staff prepare to get involved in school-related activities Powell High School offers. Freshmen and upperclassmen look into and find what their calling is when it comes to extracurriculars. 

Some students go out for sports, but others head to the arts where they participate in PHS’s choir and band programs. On Oct. 27, 2025, students, music directors, and parents gathered in the auditorium to witness the first choir and band concert of the year.

“I feel like this concert was way more put together than our past concerts,” senior Levi Hawley said. “In the past, choir has gone into concerts feeling unprepared, and this year, we have a more prepared feeling, which made us feel and sound more confident.” 

Band director John Fabela was pleased with the band’s performances that night. He is proud of all the hard work everyone has put in leading up to this concert.  

“This concert was absolutely a success,” Mr. Fabela said. “We played difficult music and had a lot of fun playing it. The Guitar Ensemble and the Jazz Band also played very well.” 

Directors take the first concert as an opportunity to think outside the box by picking songs that don’t have a specific theme or style of music.

“The first concert of the year is my favorite for a few reasons, but mostly because there are no restrictions on what style of music we can do,” choir director Ms. Drew Murray said. “Our Pops concert, Christmas concert, and pre-competition concert all require specific songs or styles of songs, but this one is wide open with unique and fun music.” 

PHS concert band member Joseph Bott enjoyed preparing for this concert. He went into this concert prepared and was ready to perform to the best of his ability. 

“We had a lot of practice to get our songs ready,” Bott said. “We also had, in my opinion, great directors who taught and helped us. We couldn’t have done it without them.” 

The music students did not only please themselves or their directors, they also pleased the audience’s ears with the sounds and music they heard that night.

“People loved it and got into it,” Hawley said. “We got compliments on the songs we sang and good feedback about concert choir and our acapella group, Erocne.” 

This concert is just the beginning for these students and directors; they are finding new songs to play and sing for the upcoming holiday concert. 

“Our next concert is the Holiday concert series in December,” Ms. Murray said. “These performances always fill up, and we end up turning people away at the doors, so we are accommodating a larger audience with a 5:00 and 7:00 concert.”

The first concert of the year always excites students and music directors. They look forward to heading back to the music hallway so they can learn and improve for their next concert. 

“Musicians are always looking for ways to improve for the next concert,” Mr. Fabela said. “If you ask any of our musicians, they will tell you that they wish they had played some note louder or softer, or maybe they forgot to look at a key signature, or they wish they had looked at the director more. Musicians are never satisfied with their performance and always strive to improve.”