The Department of Music introduced the first Octubafest performed by the Low Brass Ensemble to an audience of 50 people in Akin Auditorium Oct. 30.

Christopher Vivio, ensemble conductor, said, “This is our firstOctubafest. It’s something that was created to showcase ensemble. We hope to expand and have it grow with the surrounding high schools into one big show,”

While most of the concert was performed by MSU students, six high school students from Wichita Falls High School and Rider High School joined the ensemble during the penultimate piece, Jupiter (Chorale). Due to the inclusion of high school students, there were previously issues in scheduling the performance.

“It was originally scheduled for Thursday but that ended up being on a homecoming night and many of the high school students were at the game for the halftime show,” Vivio said, “so it was changed to Tuesday. Unfortunately, that was still an issue of working around band practice and rehearsals, so we decided on Monday.”

David Fuhrman attended the concert to see his son, Jacob Furhman, music education sophomore, perform and seemed to enjoy the show.

“It was wonderful. The kids put a lot of effort into this and you can just really tell how much work they put in,” Furhman said, “I like that they included kids from the high school to join in and give them that opportunity to play on a bigger scale.”

Jared Pruett, music education junior, was a member of the ensemble playing the trombone. Pruett said he enjoyed playing for the audience and that he is excited to play the new annual show again next year.

“My favorite piece was Jupiter because its a real adrenaline-pumping piece and it’s just really fun to play,” Pruett said, “That’s what I love about music, when you play it,  you become a part of the music and you really feel it.”