Drummers in Morphsuits and saxophone players in short-shorts both made an appearance Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7 to entertain hundreds of students, families, and alumni at the 43rd annual Pops concert.

The Pops concert is an opportunity for the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band to perform various talents for the community, rather than just playing instruments in the band like other traditional concerts. Each year, students in band get together to think of a theme and come up with group or solo acts they would like to perform. This year’s theme was “Live long and ‘Pops’per,” a reference to Commander Spock’s famous saying on the show “Star Trek.”

“It isn’t just students playing music. It’s fun and neat for the band kids and for the audience because it shows off some other talents the band kids have, talents we might not otherwise see,” said Mr. William Bell, Music.

This year’s show included an original song performed by Allie Ries, junior, Pharrell’s “Happy” performed by Jasmine “Jazzy” Dickerson, junior, and dances featuring senior men and senior women.

The performers spent weeks working on their acts, finding music to play, and coordinating with each other to prepare for the show. Members of both bands also came to school early, stayed in class late, and met up after school to practice.

“During the two weeks before Pops, and especially the week before, I practiced my solo parts. For the sax men, we got together about five times before and practiced. We had to stay after school for three hours everyday the week of the concert for the senior men dance. There was a lot of practice,” said Kenta Yamamoto, senior and member of the “Sexy Sax Men” saxophone quartet.

However, Pops wasn’t all-work and no-play.

“We got doughnuts after ‘senior men’ practice, and it’s a very social experience, working with other kids. It’s fun,” Yamamoto said.

Students must do in-school and out-of-school work in order to make the show successful. While Bell and his co-director, Mr. Taylor Eliason, Music, have some say in the music and order of the acts, the students control most of what goes on in the concert.

Two of the most heavily student-organized acts were the senior dances, “senior men” and “senior women.”

“We had to first get everyone’s attention- let them know they should be in senior men. Then we had to plan the dance, as well as the music,” said Elliot Carson, senior, emcee, and co-organizer of the senior men’s dance.

Despite all the work, the concert has maintained its popularity among band students throughout the years.

“It’s like the only screw-around thing we do in band other than a trip, and people like screwing around. That, and it’s a fun time. We play fun music, not boring band music,” Carson said.

Another part of the show’s appeal is the respect the band members pay to tradition.

“We always end with the same tune. It’s called MacArthur Park, and it’s a tune that was popular in the early 1970s. There are actually a few people that will come who graduated 30 or 40 years ago, and they will come up and tell me how glad they are we still play MacArthur Park,” Bell said.

Each new year brings a fresh crop of talent to the show. Although many band members will be graduating this year, the Pops tradition will live on as a new group of students gathers next year to show off their talent in the 44th annual Pops concert.