As the end of the school year came to a close, the music department played “The Simpsons” for their final concert in the auditorium on May 11.

Combined pieces are musical pieces that the orchestra and the band play as one ensemble. Windsor High School musicians were given their pieces a month in advance.

Instrumental director Meghan Muñoz (staff) rehearsed with the orchestra and band separately during their classes before they finally rehearsed together as a whole ensemble during advisory the day of the concert.

Combined pieces are full orchestral pieces with parts in the orchestra that correspond to parts in the band, according to Ella Lee (11), violist. The orchestra and band practice separately, so Muñoz worked on getting them both up to tempo before they rehearsed as a full ensemble.

“Each instrument has a part that corresponds to another part in the other ensemble. We practice individually and then work on getting up to tempo, up to speed, in the right sounds and then we combine and practice together to see how it all fits,” Lee said.

Since they practice separately, Muñoz saw everything click together during the rehearsal with the full ensemble.

“Especially if we have just one rehearsal together, suddenly when you hear all the parts and all the people, sometimes that just makes stuff click and it feels better,” Muñoz said.

According to orchestra and band member Chloe Overholt (09), the musicians performed other combined pieces during the first semester, but only the advanced orchestra members were allowed to play.

“This year, we played a piece at our veterans concert, and we ended up not being able to use our entire orchestra because some people weren’t as prepared as others, and it was just kind of sprung up out of the blue,” Overholt said. “So we only had a few orchestra people in there. You couldn’t even, like, hear the strings, which was kind of a bummer, so I’m glad we get this redemption where we all get to play and you can actually hear our parts.”

Muñoz chose to play “The Simpsons” for specific reasons. She wanted it to be more fun than a traditional piece, and she didn’t want it to be too complex.

“It’s very difficult to find literature that has all the correct instrumentation, so when I was looking at literature, I looked at several things and I wanted it to be more fun than, like, a traditional piece. I wanted it to be more fun and something that would not be too complex and that we could learn in a short amount of time,” Muñoz said.

Muñoz is leaving her job as instrumental director after this school year, so this concert was her last concert she conducted for the Windsor High School music department. She mentioned that she wanted “The Simpsons” to be her final piece she conducted for the instrumental family.

“It’s really nice at the end of the concert for us all to come together and do something as a family, as an instrumental department,” Muñoz said.