With the musicians looking classy and professional in their black attire, DVC’s wind ensemble and symphonic band delivered a high-energy and wellexecuted performance in their Oct. 3 concert at the Performing Arts Center.

“The Next Step,” directed by Monte Bairos, showcased just how far the two ensembles have come after seven years with music of high artistic merit.

The wind ensemble demonstrated its versatility with “Prelude and Fugue in B Flat Minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach, followed later by William Hill’s “A Norman Rockwell Suite,” a musical description of four Rockwell paintings.

The first movement of the suite depicts Rockwell’s “The Horseshoe Forging Contest,” with heavy chords that become more intense as the blacksmiths’ hammering gets more spirited.

In the third movement, “Gossip,” the music becomes increasingly frantic, as if characters were interrupting each other to add to a story.

Davide Delle Cese’s “The Little English Girl” was the highlight for the wind ensemble’s program. Director Bairos declared it “sickly sweet opera music,” with a certain “pompousness” and melody that will “stick in your head.”

He took chances at the podium, wiggling his eyebrows at the audience before the percussion finish, at which point the audience erupted into laughter.

Feeding off of that energy, the symphonic band played “Hill Song No. 2” by Percy Grainger, with the instruments sounding like bagpipes reminiscent of hill folk music.

The band also crisply and cleanly played “Five Miniatures, Op. 52” by Joaquin Turina. Of the five movements, “Dawn” stood out as reminiscent of a love theme from an old movie.

All in all, the music was pleasing to hear and the bands were impressively able to use every component of music to their advantage – the volume, the synchronization, the rhythm.

Every note was played with gusto and feeling.