On Thursday, December 18th, the Junior and Senior High Choir and Bands performed songs of holiday cheer at Emerson’s Annual Winter Concert!
Everyone involved worked very hard the past few months to be where they were last night. The lineup of songs this year may have been a bit challenging, but these performers were more than capable! A few pre-concert interviews made it obvious that the energy for this year’s performance was truly special.
Junior Giana Kim shared, “My favorite song we’re performing this year is ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’. I love it because it’s a tradition every year, and it becomes more and more special and meaningful throughout the years we play it.”
Band Director Ms. Correll stated, “I think we’re in very good shape for the winter concert! We’ve been working hard for many months, both the Jazz and Concert Bands have difficult music that will be played well. Junior High has put in a lot of work this year and practiced at home a lot.”
Choir Director Mr. Ullman agreed with Correll’s enthusiasm.
There’s a great mix of students of all grades involved with our Winter Concert this year.
Junior James Nienstedt gave some great insight into his opinions on this year’s concert.
“I am very excited because I believe for this concert I will be able to perform more freely than ever I have before; learning to hone your singing or instrument playing techniques can be a draining, frustrating process, but now that I have much more experience of those practices under my belt, I feel like this concert I’ll need less to worry about playing my songs correctly, and get to focus more on simply enjoying the music. I have both of my directors, Mr. Ullman and Ms. Correll, to thank for that!” he said.
Nienstedt added, “I have coincidentally undertaken just about the heaviest workload for my Junior year (this year) of high school for several different reasons, so you could imagine that I would be left with a relatively limited amount of time to focus on my musical practice as well. Fortunately, not only have I miraculously been provided the time enough that I needed in school to rehearse my singing and sax playing, I think I’ll be able to put on a generally good show as well! That is, if I can find out what’s wrong with my darn mouthpiece.”
He went on to say he’s been a part of these shows “since I was in 3rd grade, I believe. I’m not sure, but it was whatever age Villano School would first let kids sing in concerts. I got my first sax in 4th grade.”
Freshman Sophia Rizzo stated on the topic, “I’m pretty excited about this since it’s my first year doing it as a high schooler, but I’ve been doing the Winter Concert for the past three years.”
As it’s their first year performing in one of these concerts, seventh grader Norah Smith stated, “I don’t know how different it may be from the Villano Concert. I think I am musically prepared. I am in the Middle School Jazz Band, String Ensemble, Concert Band, Chorus, and the Vocal Ensemble. I have a lot of songs, but I think I am excited!”
When asked their favorite part about EJSHS’ annual concerts, Mrs. Murphy stated, “It really looks like the band and choir are having fun on stage. The holidays often find pockets of joy, and the Winter Concert serves as a little pocket of joy for the school.
A special thank you goes out to all supported our talented musicians here at EJSHS!
