Mallets were ringing, the chorus was singing and lights and trees filled the auditorium on the night of the annual Christmas concert.
On Dec. 16, friends, family and students attended the Christmas concert to listen to the music the students have been practicing all year. The chorus began preparing for this concert at the start of the school year and the band began to rehearse as marching band season came to a close, in mid-October.

The concert began with the opening harmonies of the chamber singers, who have met once a week after school to practice and have gone carolling within the community. The carolers sang, “Come, All Ye Faithful” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

The band opened with “C’est Noel,” which is a piece that combines the melodies of many different Christmas classics including “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” “Gloria” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.” The band followed with “Greensleeves and “Twas the Night Before.”

After the chorus’s first songs, the band performed “‘Twas the Night Before.” The song included excerpts from “Angels We Have Heard On High.”

The band’s final solo piece was “White Christmas.” During their performance of “White Christmas,” the band parents sang along on stage the students played in the background.

“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” was the first performance from the chorus. The girls sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” Afterwards, all of the chorus boys sang “Rise Up Shepherd.”

The full chorus ensemble sang “Frozen Medley,” a mashup of different songs from Disney’s hit movie, “Frozen.” Duets, which were in “Love is an Open Door,” were sung by Seniors Nathan James, Micki Friend, Josh Battaglia and Ashley Malinak while Senior Robbie Raso was featured as a soloist during the “In Summer” part of the Frozen piece. A video made by Raso were of clips from the original movie. It was shown in the background as students sang.

The jazz band, which meets after school once a week, performed their own selections of songs. Selections included “The Man with the Bag,” with solo vocalist, Senior Rylie Barnes, “A Big Band Christmas, ” with solos by Junior Brandon Barnhart and Senior Nathan James, and “Feliz Navidad.”

The middle school chorus, which consists of 7th and 8th graders, led the performance of “Run, Run Rudolph.” High school choir members sang in the background as the middle school members danced.

As part of the traditional finale, the band and chorus joined together to perform “A Holiday Sing-Along,” which included excerpts from “Deck the Halls,” “Jingle Bells,” “O Christmas Tree” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Parents and family members within the audience were asked to stand and sing along with the chorus while the band accompanied in the background.