With Celebration starting, the Eastern Illinois University Wind Symphony and Concert Band will perform fast-paced music in their concert for the weekend.

The concert is titled “A Celebration Concert” and will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Dvorak Concert Hall in Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Barry Houser, the coordinator of the show, said the performance will include much lighter music.

“Since it’s celebration weekend, we are trying to play into that,” Houser said. “It will be a lot of upbeat music.”

Houser said the audience could expect to have a very enjoyable and entertaining concert. “There will be a march dealing with the circus,” Houser said.

He said to prepare for the concert, his musicians had a normal practice sequence of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday practices for about an hour and 15 minutes every week.

He said they have been working on the pieces since the beginning of March.

Houser said the preparation that goes into the performance is something that will impress the audience.

“The audience won’t see it, but they will hear it,” Houser said. “The speeds of the pieces are pretty upbeat. The students have worked on some of the technical pieces.”

Don Fisher, a senior music education major, said just playing well is something he feels will impress the crowd.

“It’s geared towards more playful pieces,” he said. “It’s a little more fun than the more serious concerts throughout the year.”

Fisher said their last concert was in February and the musicians have been working consistently every week.

Fisher said the audience should expect to enjoy a “rocking concert.”

The different selections will include “Wild Nights!” by Frank Ticheli, “Abasque Lullaby” by Dan Forrest, conducted by Sarah Todd, a graduate student conductor, and “Slava” by Leonard Bernstein.

The concert will have free admission.

Shaun Johnson can be reached at 581-2812 or sajohnson6@eiu.edu.