Color was sound and sound was color.

That metaphor was heard in a voice-over just before more than a dozen solos and ensembles were played in front of about 900 people at the ninth annual Prism concert in Van Meter Hall last Friday.

“It represents the colors of the rainbow, which is what you get when you refract light in a prism,” said John Carmichael, director of bands. “So in a way it is a metaphor for the variety of music we are trying to play.”

And throughout those metaphors, a variety of music was played with a light representing each genre. That combination of light and sound brought the audience to its feet by the end of the night.

“In the eyes of the audience you would assume that you did well,” Carmichael said.

The concert included a scene from the spring opera Sweeney Todd, a vocal solo accompanied by piano and musical selections performed by various ensembles. These ensembles included the Western jazz combo, clarinet quartet, percussion ensemble and the Western basketball band.

“It’s a tradition for the basketball band to play every year,” said Bowling Green sophomore Jessica Crotts, who plays the piccolo in the basketball band. “It gives the audience a perspective of the different bands played.”

High school students and Western band alumni were among the audience members.

“I was in it for five years and this is my first year seeing it from the other side – from the audience perspective,” 2002 graduate Susie High said.

High played in the Symphonic band as a student and plans to continue attending for years to come.

“If you were ever in the band, the Prism concert is like a homecoming for us,” she said.

The concert was performed in conjunction with the honors band workshop for high school students.

Lisa Cooper, a junior at Logan County High School, said the concert and the workshop have made her consider Western for college. Cooper said the concert was very exciting because it had a variety of colors, performance positions and styles of music.

“For the high school students here, I think they saw something they could possibly be a part of when they come to the Hill,” said Danielle Wayda, a sophomore from Franklin, Tenn., who performed at the concert.

Reach Heather Cowherd at [email protected].