A tradition since 1954, Edina High School’s Concert Band and Jazz I ensemble have prepared to dazzle audiences through a combination of skits, dancing, musical performances, and more which will be shown off during the annual POPS Concert.

Preparation for the event began in October as the brainstorming for the theme started to take shape. Each year, the band is faced with the challenge of selecting a unique theme, leading to the crafting of “A POPS Fantasia.” “The ideas and energy [the students] bring is super fun,” Concert Band Director Paul Kile said. “What makes [the theme] unique is that we’re able to capitalize on current trends or movies going on.” 

After EHS’s combined Concert ensembles—orchestra, band, and choir—performed at the Winter Jubilee, rehearsals for POPS ramped up. Outside of their usual class time, the band’s rehearsals also demand time outside of school ranging from two to five extra hours a week. Each session is crucial to every element of the performance when it comes to the memorization and mastering of pieces. “On top of all that rehearsing, we have to have our own individual practice time. So it’s a lot of cramming stuff together,” junior tuba player Samuel Gendry said. 

Although the coordination of 92 band members is no easy feat, POPS is student-led; each student brings their own thoughts and ideas to the table. “Once I got involved in POPS and saw how the students grow from having to take something that doesn’t exist to building it into a show, I was sold. It is the most real-life hands-on experience you can get,” Kile said. Students are involved in the development of the theme, piece selection, learning and memorizing their parts, solving their disagreements, and then putting it all together. “If problems happen, they’ve got to solve it. They do it all by themselves. So the reality is it’s setting you up for college,” Kile said. “You have to do everything on your own.”

Throughout five days of performances, the enchantment of POPS is also shared with fourth graders at the Edina Live event. “I’ve always wanted to play music. But, the reason that I specifically wanted to do band is because I knew that band kids got to do POPS. When I was a young kid, the correlation was that POPS is fun and so band would be fun. I think that influenced my decision to join and probably other kids too,” senior Drum Major Margo Musolf said.

This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on February 21, 2024.