To showcase students talent in guitar, Lafayette is presenting the Annual Guitar Festival on April 21 at 7 p.m. There is no charge for the event.

The evening will include performances by Tuesday Night Rock Band, Guitar Ensemble, Thursday and Friday Jam Bands and a special guest performance from The Lafayette Teacher Band which includes John Deken, Paul Krull,  Jason Long and Christopher Paladin, .

“Picking pieces is a joint effort of student request and teacher suggestion, because every piece isn’t going to be able work with every ensemble because of the way some of our groups are set up. All of our ensembles are full rock bands- guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Other than guitar players, I have drum players that have been through the guitar classes and percussion players from the band that are accompanying each ensemble,” Traci Bolton, guitar teacher said.

“The majority of the pieces fall into the rock genre, and pieces range from the 60s and the 70s to modern songs. One of our ensembles is preforming an original, written by junior Jessica Cargill. Aside from student ensembles, we have had alumni have come to our festival in the past to perform, but I don’t know if anyone will come this year. Just depends on who is in town,” Bolton said.

Bolton also spoke about the benefits of the Guitar Festival.

“One of the joys of playing music is preforming for an audience. Many of our bands have had gigs throughout the year in different places, but for our other groups, Guitar Festival is the first performance they’ll have. It’s truly a unique experience for students because Guitar Festival is set up like a rock concert- we bring in lights and additional sound systems in a nice stage setting to replicate what is typically seen at gigs,” she said.