ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The school year is nearing its end, and for Seward County Community College, that means it is time for the school’s annual spring concert.
This year’s concert will be April 24 in the Showcase Theater, and unlike many years, Instrumental Music Instructor Claire Thompson said she did not have a theme for this year’s concert.
“It’s a mixture of songs my students have all picked,” she said.
However, Thompson said the band will have the second and final part of a video game theme presented at the 2025 concert, as well as some other pieces during the evening.
“We have a movie piece from ‘The Prince of Egypt’ the students requested,” she said. “We have a piece called ‘Malagueña’ the students also requested.”
Thompson said her students did much in the way of research on the music they wanted to do for this year’s concert, and the list of songs for the concert also includes a taste of music from the 1970s and 1980s.
This is Thompson’s fourth concert at SCCC, including two winter concerts and one prior spring concert, and she said the upcoming concert is by far the hardest music the band has done in her time at the school. However, she believes her students are up to the challenge.
“They are really looking forward to performing,” she said.
Thompson said audience members are in for a fun and exciting concert with a good variety of music.
“There will be a little bit of something for everybody with this concert and a really high performance quality,” she said. “We’ve worked really hard this semester, and this is the hardest music these students have done so far. They really rose to the challenge and have practiced and have worked extra time outside of class, sometimes even together, to make sure it’s prepared properly.”
Initially, Thompson said she had an idea for this year’s concert, but after some thought, she felt her students deserved to have some input on the music to be performed.
“Normally, I pick what I would like, maybe seven to 10 pieces and have the students help me narrow it down. This time, however, they were sending me suggestions on what they wanted to play based on the instrumentation we have,” she said. “I rolled with it, and I love what they picked. It was more challenging, and I thought it would fit our students this semester. I really let them have free range.”
Thompson is finishing her second year at SCCC, and she said in that short time, she is seeing significant growth in the band.
“We started out with just a couple students enrolled my first semester at Seward, and now, we have a really strong band of more than 20,” she said. “It doesn’t sound like a lot, but we’ve grown three to four times what I started with, which is huge. It’s been an incredible semester with all of the students who are there. We are definitely growing. Students are already making plans on what they want and expect for next year, and we’re really going for it.”
With SCCC being only a two-year school, this leaves Thompson with a small window of opportunity to work with students, and with one class graduating and another coming in each year, this creates a teaching challenge. She said, though, she has done more recruiting this year, which she said has helped.
“The students are really enjoying class,” she said. “They’re trying to get their friends to join as well.”
For the upcoming concert, Thompson also has some recent SCCC alumni coming back to perform, which she said feels awesome.
“I’m constantly looking for new members or current students who might be on the fence about joining band,” she said. “I’ve been trying to work with them really hard to get them to join. It is a challenge, but I feel we’re working hard at finding new members to fill those gaps every year.”
With her students doing more of the planning for the concert, Thompson said this is a totally new feeling for her, but she said band members have been passionate about performing in both the regular band and pep band this year.
“They kept sending me links for ideas, or if one piece doesn’t work, maybe another piece,” she said. “They were full of ideas and opportunities, and they really went for it. I took all of their ideas and listened to what I thought would work for us and chose based on what they were sending me throughout the semester.”
With just more than a week until the concert, Thompson said practices have been fantastic and quite productive.
“The students are working very hard,” she said. “We make progress every single class, and they are ready. We have a little bit of polishing left to do, but we are definitely ready for a really good performance.”
The SCCC spring concert is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, April 24 in the Rapid Fit Showcase Theater. Tickets are $3 apiece and will be available at the door. For more information, e-mail
Because the upcoming concert is outside of what she normally does, Thompson said is extra excited for what will be performed that evening.
“The music is much more challenging,” she said. “It’s definitely a more exciting performance for us. I’m really looking forward to it.”
