Photo by Jenny Kirk Nick Dunn and Kianna Prins practice on a xylophone and marimba, in preparation for the 2019 Marshall Beats.

MARSHALL — Sixteen seniors are among the 85 Marshall Beats students who will present “The Nature of the Beats” 2019 percussion program on Saturday and Sunday in the Marshall High School theater.

Marshall Beats Director Eric Novosad said the 14th annual event focuses on an African kind of nature theme.

“We just decided to do something that had a really cool feel that was very down to earth, with a lot of nature type things,” Novosad said. “There’s a ton of African drums. We have songs that simulate rainfall, the sounds of djembe drums that are African — we have the show centered around that, with some fun surprises in between.”

In addition to showcasing the musical talents of the sixth- through 12th-grade students, those in attendance can also expect a spectacular visual experience as well, courtesy of technical director Dan Smith.

“Dan Smith does all of our lights,” Novosad said. “He’s the theater director here.”

Throughout the Beats production, there will be a wide variety of large group, small ensembles and solo percussion performances.

“I try to find music that is going to be fun,” Novosad said. “For our soloists and our duets, I ask them what they want to play. I let them go out and find the music that they want to do because they’re the ones who are going to be working really hard on them.”

Senior Nick Dunn said a lot of the students are in about 10 different performances throughout the evening. He said it was “bittersweet” to know it will be his last Beats concert.

“It’s nice to move on, too, but I’m going to miss it,” Dunn said.

Senior Kianna Prins said she likes comparing the first Beats practice they have to the sound at the end.

“You never realize what it’s going to sound like at the beginning because you’re just getting your first music,” she said. “To think this is the last week of Beats all together — we’re not going to have another one — is weird. But I’m not going to cry.”

Novosad said Beats practices start in November, but really ramp up after Christmas break.

“The last three months, we really work on the production and how we want it to look on the stage,” he said. “The hardest thing is that our kids at Marshall are involved in so many activities, so it’s always a struggle to get everybody in the same place at the same time.”

Novosad said a lot of the pieces finally fall into place during the final week of practices.

“This week is so much fun because we get everybody here,” Novosad said. “(Monday night), we got here at 5 p.m. and we left here about midnight. We started figuring out the final pieces to the puzzle, of what we want to do for Saturday and Sunday.”

Senior Madison Wegner said balancing time for Beats, homework and other activities is probably the biggest challenges for her and a lot of other students.

“It’s just difficult because we’ll get it one week and then someone will be gone and we’ll lose it,” she said. “Then we’ll have to keep finding it — we’re still working on some things. It can be tough trying to balance this, along with homework and softball. It’s a lot, but it’s still fun. I’m going to miss it.”

While the final week is intense, Novosad said it’s one of his favorite weeks of the school year.

“It’s my last interaction with the students,” he said. “It’s especially a fun week of celebrating with the seniors. Most of these kids, I’ve had through marching band and up through Beats.”

Novosad has directed the Beats performance for the past five years, after taking the reins when creator Chad Przymus moved away. It’s something Novosad said he’s more than happy to continue for the students.

“Chad and I got together before he moved because I had so many parents coming to me and saying they really wanted to keep Beats going,” Novosad said. “I’d stepped into his role in marching band and then kept up with this. I’ve just wanted kids to keep playing and enjoy playing, and this is the fun way of doing that as a drummer.”

“Nature of the Beats” is sponsored by Marshall Music Boosters and Marshall PTA. Saturday’s performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Sunday’s production starts at 2 p.m. Both are held in the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts at MHS.

“It’s about a two-hour show and we do an intermission in between, and we’ll have Cold Stone Creamery doing free ice cream,” Novosad said.