Year after year, Freedom’s band has their holiday concert, in which students perform their instruments. With a loss of six seniors–Ethan Giebal, Brigette Richard, Madison Sanders, Connor Tavern, Leannah Messenger and Troy Pawlowski–the upcoming seniors have to step up and take charge. This year’s seniors in the band consist of saxophonist Samuel Brenner, flutes Lily Burgess, Josephine Brenckle, and trombonist Dakota Gingerella. Even though seniors play a big part in leadership, underclassmen also step-up and take charge.
Transitioning between marching and concert season is an obstacle for the band. While closing their 2023 season, the band had to prioritize preparing concert selections as well. This doubled the workload on the group, and it gave an extra motive to student leadership.
“I am proud of my fellow band members and all the hard work they put in during both marching band and concert band.I am even more proud knowing that I have helped lead these young individuals to become the musicians they have become. I couldn’t be more happy for all of them and their accomplishments,” Brenckle, a drum major for the 2023 marching season, said.
The night opened with the high school jazz band. This small ensemble performed a jazz rendition of “Hot Chocolate”, a hit song from the movie “The Polar Express”. “[The] Harold Angel Swing” and “Sugarplum Rock” were performed following “Hot Chocolate.” In their second piece, “[The] Harold Angel Swing”, junior Elias Boyd and sophomore Leo Kaleugher performed solos. The final song, “Sugarplum Rock”, allowed for Brenner to perform a 56 count improvisation solo.
Right after the jazz ensemble came the sixth grade band. They started their segment with “Holiday Rock”. Following the sixth grade band, the seventh and eighth grade band performed a multitude of songs: “Christmas Fanfare” by Randall Standridge, “Joyous Festival” by Jeanne Vultaggio and “Christmas Tree Samba” by Robert E. Foster Jr.
The night then ended with the Freedom High School Band playing the song “Christmas Eve/ Sarajevo 12/24”–more commonly recognized as “Carol of the Bells”. They followed this song up with the “The Polar Express Medley”, which is an arrangement full of songs from the Polar Express movie. Sophomore saxophonists Elizabeth Smith and Calla Reynolds joined together in a duet, which transitioned into a short solo by Reynolds. The band then played Selections from Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Brenner secured a short solo in this arrangement, in addition. The outro of the High School band consisted of “Sleigh Ride”. It has become a recent tradition for the high school band to conclude their holiday concert with this infamous tune, since it encourages the audience to sing along. Elias Boyd not only played the iconic horse whinny to close the song but for last year’s show, he made the slapsticks.
Every year, the high school and middle school band ensembles dedicate hours of time inside and outside of school to prepare for their concerts. The result of this dedication is what students recognize as the annual holiday concert. Although the music differs from year to year, the unwavering dedication on behalf of student musicians remains persistent and evident through their performances.