The Freedom Band has been diligently preparing for their winter concert. Typically held right before Christmas break, the winter concert features holiday-themed and festive songs performed by the musicians in band. This year, the concert was held on Dec. 17 and featured performances by the Jazz band, 6th grade band, 7th and 8th grade band and the high school concert band.
This concert was Ms. Julia Lawrence’s first with the district. With her arrival, she brought some changes to the concert. One of the changes was attire. The Concert Band used to feature musicians wearing white tops and black pants, but this year they are wearing concert black tops and bottoms, with pops of red. She also made changes to the layout of the stage. The Jazz Band played on risers in former performances, but this year they did not. This is also the first year the concert featured a vocal performance.
“The changes make it more unique and special. There are new things to experience and try that we wouldn’t have thought to have,” Janna Kline (11) said.
The concert started off with performances by the Jazz Band. They first played “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey. The song featured a singing solo by Phoebe Smith (11). After that, they played “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” by MGM Studio Orchestra and Thurl Ravenscroft, with solos from Aubrey Boyd (11) on the tenor saxophone, Leo Kaleugher (11) and Eli Boyd (12) on the trumpet and Johnathan Bruce (11) on the trombone. Some of the members of the Jazz Band who played saxophone just recently learned how to play saxophone, so it was a great learning experience for the newer members to show off their skills.
“I’m really nervous for it because I’ve never had a solo, and doing it on a new instrument will be very interesting,” Boyd said.
After the Jazz Band, the 6th grade band began their setlist. During their performance, they featured a bit where the students would pass around the microphone and one-by-one they read letters to Santa pretending to be elves. The 7th and 8th grade bands performed together after the 6th grade band. This would be the last middle school winter performance for some of these members, marking an end to their middle school days, and opening a new door into their high school years.
At the culmination of the concert, the high school concert band made their way to the stage. They opened their portion of the concert with, “Christmas Festival” by Leroy Anderson. They then played, “God Rest Ye Gentlemen” which featured a French horn opening by Audrey Mooney (10) and Alexander Micon (11). After that, they played “Veni Veni” with a solo from Elizabeth Mooney (10) at the beginning of the song, and a solo from Jesse Reinhardt (12) at the end of the song. In the conclusion of the concert, they closed with the classic, “Sleigh Ride” which rounded out the performance.
The Winter concert propelled attendees into the holiday spirit, along with giving these rising musicians a chance to share what they have been working on for the past weeks.