MATTAPOISETT — The audience at Old Rochester Regional Junior High School’s spring concert on Wednesday, May 29 was the first crowd to ever hear a song called “Scorpion Slayer” played live.
The school’s eighth grade band performed the world premiere of the piece, which was created by Texas-based composer Haley Woodrow.
“It just kind of happened,” said band teacher Richard Laprise. “Woodrow had reached out to me about another project, it wasn’t a fit for our program, but I said, ‘We might be interested in hiring you to write a brand new piece for us.’”
After many Zoom calls, emails and slight tweaks to the music, “Scorpion Slayer” finally came to life.
“It’s something special,” said Laprise. “It’s not something that happens often at this level.”
Joining the eighth grade band on stage was the seventh grade band, the school chorus and the jazz band.
Laprise teaches all besides the chorus, and said that each of his groups have shown a lot of growth throughout the school year.
“It’s great to listen back to old concerts,” said Laprise. “It’s the same group, but there is so much more maturity in their playing.”
Each band played three songs over the course of the concert, while the chorus sang four pieces.
Laprise said he thought the performances were “fantastic” and he received very positive feedback, including one attendee who said she was brought to tears.
“The kids just love concerts so much so it’s worth all of the effort of putting them on,” said Laprise. “It’s all about them. I just love to see them perform and be appreciated.”
Laprise said the group as a whole shares a great sense of community due to everyone working toward the same goal.
“You care for each other whether you know it or not because you want to be successful as a group,” he said.
The creation of the “Scorpion Slayer” composition was funded by a grant provided by the Old Rochester Tri-Town Education Foundation, according to Paula Meere, the foundation’s treasurer and co-chair of its grants committee.
