Raider senior musicians, vocalists take one final bow during spring concert

The sounds of musical scores and harmonious voices filled the Cole Auditorium Thursday night for one last time before Richmond Senior High School students went their separate ways for the summer during the annual spring concert.

Parents, families, teachers, staff, and community leaders enjoyed an evening of songs from movies and old classics that highlighted the best of Richmond County’s students.

Edwin Carter, the Richmond Senior Director of Band, said the evening was bittersweet.

“The spring concert is usually the toughest concert because we have to say goodbye to our senior musicians who have watched and helped the program grow and helped to establish new traditions,” he said. “Especially since this graduating class is going to be the first group of freshmen that I received at Richmond Senior High School.”

Carter and fellow Richmond Senior teacher Lauren Lutz, the Richmond Senior choral music educator, have spent the past year being the musical dad and mom for the Raiders. Both were near tears at the end of the performances knowing each helped shape young lives on and off the stage.

Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy vocalist Kaylee Hinson, a freshman, sings during the spring concert at the Richmond Community College Cole Auditorium on Thursday, May 25, 2023. (Photo by Mark Bell)

“I’m amazed at the amount of content and detailed musicianship my students have gotten under their belt this semester,” Lutz said. “I think they underestimate how much work they’ve put in. I always look forward to seeing each student react to the moment before, during, and after the spring show.”

The concert highlighted the student musicians’ culminating performance for the year.

“Talk about how proud you are of the students and their accomplishments and growth this year,” Carter said.  “I am very proud of the students’ progress regarding not only their musicianship but their confidence in themselves.”

Carter and Lutz both said there is one common denominator to the success of each group – the students’ families.

“As with anything else, the success of the students is not on the shoulders of myself or the students alone; it is with the help and support of parents/guardians and volunteers that help the students create meaningful music memories,” Carter said.

Lutz said the community was generous during chorus fundraisers to help the student musicians travel to competitions to showcase the pride of Richmond County.

“It speaks volumes to students when they see so many pictures and videos pop up of their performances on social media,” she said. “There’s a great legacy with both programs, and it’s special for our students to see how they’re connected to that.

As seniors soon graduate high school and move on to the next chapter of their lives, the band and vocal ensembles move on to create new memories with new freshmen and a new year at Richmond Senior.

Music is much more than performing; it’s a community of friendships and musical relationships that will live on to tell stories about their adventures long after graduating high school.

“I hope that my students foster a lifelong love for the arts and understand that it takes teamwork to build everything,” said Carter.

Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy vocalist Aneema Owens, a freshman, sings during the spring concert at the Richmond Community College Cole Auditorium on Thursday, May 25, 2023. (Photo by Mark Bell)

Lutz said she hoped students continue their journey long after high school.

“I hope they have the desire to keep pursuing musical community, and I pray they stay in touch with each other and with me,” she said.

Two seniors who performed for the last time were DeMario Hamilton and Leah Squires.

Hamilton, a singer with the Raider Voices since 2019, said he’s been singing since a very young age and will miss performing with his friends and Richmond Senior.

“I’ve sung at every performance with this group, and I will miss being with my friends doing the thing we love to do most – make people smile,” he said. “These are some of the best people to be around. They can make you smile, cry, and remind you why you love to sing.”

Squires said her best friend Heather got her into music in the third grade and hasn’t looked back.

“I didn’t even know clarinet existed until the sixth grade,” she laughed. “So, I was like, I guess I can try it.”

Squires will be attending the University of North Carolina at Pembroke next year in hopes of beginning a new journey as a teacher in the near future.

RRichmond Senior High School musician Leah Squires, a senior, plays the clarinet during the spring concert at the Richmond Community College Cole Auditorium on Thursday, May 25, 2023. (Photo by Mark Bell)

For now, Squires said she will put the clarinet down and “take a musical rest.”

She said she hopes the new generation of Raider musicians will fill her seat in the band and continue that musical magic that happens during every performance.

“It’s nerve-wracking and kind of sad,” she said before the spring concert. “I missed many opportunities to perform in the tenth grade because of the pandemic. It doesn’t feel real that this is ending tonight.”

Her advice for families is just to give music a try. It’s not an easy journey but a rewarding one.

“It may seem that, at times, you may not get it,” she said about the frustrations of learning to play an instrument. “If you keep trying and trying, you will eventually get it, and it’s something you can hold onto for the rest of your life. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to make people smile by playing music.”

That reward was seen on the football fields and during concert performances from sophomore percussionist James Coicou.

Earlier this year, after watching the Raider Marching Band a couple of times, he knew he had to be on the field. After walking up to the band director, he asked how he could join the band. He said he knew he had to be on that field.

“Next year, I hope to be on the snare line,” he said. “No, I will be playing snare for the band. I am going to work hard and put in the hours to make Richmond proud.”

Coicou said music is special to him, and he enjoys watching the reaction to the music.

“Music allows you to express yourself any way without feeling disrespectful or aggravating somebody,” he said. “Where else can you put your personality into something and make people smile and forget the things happening around them? The only thing I know that can do that is music. It’s why I do it. I want to impact people in a positive way.”

Seniors band members are John Beasley, Terrae Covington, Nicholas Ewing, Rachel Martin, Heather Pike, and Leah Squires.

Senior Raider Voices members are Indhira Bridgelal, Carolina Cline, Nic Ewing, Maggie Gillespie, DeMario Hamilton, Ethan McDonald, Shanieya Morgan, Jonathan Navarro, Josh Nessell, Fanny Radermecker, Naylah Smeigh, and Karen Tilley.