Capes flapping, horns blasting, drums rolling, masks flying… Have no fear the–

No, this is not the intro to Superman or The Incredible Hulk, but the Paly bands and orchestra ending the year with a bang at the Instrumental Spring Music Concert this Thursday in the Haymarket Theatre at 7 p.m.

The capes and masks are a result of the seniors’ theme for this end of the year band concert: superheroes. Every year seniors deviate from the normal semiformal concert attire by dressing in themed costumes.

"This concert should be the best one we’ve had all year," senior band member Andy Fruchterman said. "The music sounds great [and] the band sounds great, so it will be a fun concert."

The orchestra and all of the Paly bands will perform Thursday night. The Concert Band will kick off with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ "Folk Song Suite." Jazz ensemble will follow with "I’m Just a Lucky So and So" by Duke Ellington, arranged by Roger Holmes and end with "Killer Joe" by Quincy Jones and Benny Golson, arranged by Jack Cooper.

The Jazz Band will heat it up with Ferd ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton’s "King Porter," arranged by Fletcher Henderson; Harold Arlen, Billy Rose, and E.Y. Harburg’s "It?s Only a Paper Moon;" and Mark Taylor’s "Granada Smoothie

"I was scared to death when we first got it [Grenada], but we got the recording and we listened to it a lot," Grenada soloist junior Lia Seth said.

The Orchestra will soothe the audience with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Dance of The Tumblers," edited by Carl Simpson, and end with "Simply Symphony" by Benjamin Britten.

Last, the Symphonic Band will stand and blast their two pieces, Joseph Willcox Jenkins’ "American Overture for Band" and Leroy Anderson’s "Buglers’ Holiday," which will feature seniors Jonathan Wood, Matt Litrus, and Eben LaPier as bugler soloists.

This is the "culminating concert of the year," band instructor Jeff Willner said. "The band will be more relaxed in that we are confident. [The band also reflects] the same tone of the end of the year at school A certain kind of joy is attached to that."

Seth said, "this is a concert with a lot of emotions. It’s the seniors’ last concert."

As this is the last concert, a short award ceremony will follow the performance. The much anticipated awards will include the John Phillip Suza Award for band, the Louis Armstrong Award for Jazz band, and the Director’s Award for Orchestra, as well as the Four-year Senior award.

The awards show will conclude the season by recognizing students who have "gone above and beyond [the requirements] while being helpful, selfless and a working part for the band," Willner said.

Looking back on the year, both students and directors agree it was an eventful and successful year.

"We accomplished everything we set out to do [this year]," Willner said.

Earlier this year the Symphonic and Concert bands participated in a music festival held by the California Music Educators Association. At this event the bands played for 20 minutes as judges critiqued their performances. Both bands achieved the highest rating of excellence.

The Paly bands also enjoyed several more socially-oriented events this year, including a trip to Disneyland.

"The pure energy that kept up the entire trip made it so much fun. [We came] out of it with energy to spare," Fruchterman said. "It felt really good having fun on a trip centered around music."

Another highlight, according to Seth, was winning the varsity boys basketball team’s state championship victory.

"It was definitely a band thing too," she said, adding that the band accompanied the fans’ screams with pep band tunes to enhance the overall atmosphere. "We screamed on the bus the whole way home."

The prospects for next year are equally exciting. With construction finished on the new 100s Building, the band is ready to move out of the Student Center and into the new room after almost two years of construction.

"We are moving into the new room this week and hopefully our move will go smoothly, so that next week we can get ourselves more organized" Willner said. "The new room is acoustically fantastic."

Willner feels relief in moving out of the Student Center. The poor acoustic quality of the room "affects class management," as well as student performance, because the extraneous noises agitate both students and directors.

Unfortunately, the graduating seniors will only enjoy the benefits of the new room for a week.

"It makes me sad to leave band. I’ve loved it for four years," Fruchterman said.

Seth is equally sad to see the seniors go. "I am really close with the senior class. I’ll miss them," she said.