The Nexus

Jan. 17 ended with a moment of silence for Mark Govea (12) and the four other members of his sax quintet. Tense, expectant silence.

Then the crowd roared.

“It was like a rock concert,” Govea said.

That moment had its origins six months ago, as Govea helped pick the music this year’s sax quintet would play at the annual Solo and Ensemble Festival held at Westview.

In Govea’s third year as a quintet member, he noticed that the underclassmen’s excitement to practice and prepare had grown.

Eight hours before the silence Govea arrived at the school with his tenor sax in tow. The band room was busy with people moving in and out, but it wasn’t full.

He had room to unpack his instrument and find the other four members of the quintet. They were ready.

At 2:12 p.m., on-stage in the theater, the group performed its first piece, “All Because of You.” The two alto saxes sang underneath the lightness of the soprano sax, the brassy tenor sax, and the rumble of the baritone sax.

At 3:36 p.m., Govea stepped into L-104 to play his solo piece. It was the last thing on his mind.

“I did that one pretty much for the grade,” he said.

At 4:48 p.m., the second piece, “Pacific Nights,” resounded in the theater. The bell-tone introduction, the triplet finale, echoed from the stage.

At around 7:30, the quintet learned of the honor its earlier renditions earned them: the ensemble would play both songs as command performances to a packed theater.

The quintet played “Pacific Nights” to end. The last piercing chord rang out, the soprano in altissimo, the breath just lasting.

The silence.

And then the roar of an audience electrified by the final performance of a long day.