At the high school there are four after-school music ensembles, three of which performed at last Thursday’s small ensembles concert.
On Mondays, chorus has an after-school program conducted by Mr. Landis known as Choral Spectrum. Rather than performing at the small ensembles concert, Choral Spectrum performs at the three yearly chorus concerts with the in-school ensembles.
Audrey Jones, the chorus president, mentioned that she not only likes the actual singing, but also, “…the community that shows up to sell cotton candy at homecoming or do events for Halloween…Join chorus!”
On Tuesdays the high school’s jazz band meets from 7-8:30pm. Their tunes vary from uptempo swing to blues and often involve improvised solos from the students.
Both of the chamber ensembles meet on Thursdays. These groups play music more akin to what is played in the in-school ensembles, but at a more advanced level. Unlike the jazz band which is exclusively jazz instruments, the chamber ensembles take all concert instruments that play in the in-school classes.
Thursday’s small ensembles concert began with the Junior Chamber Players, a middle school group consisting mainly of orchestra players, but which has started allowing members of the middle school band into it in the last three years. The concert followed with the HHS Chamber Players coming on stage and playing combined with Junior Chamber.
After that, Junior Chamber vacated the stage and left the HHS Chamber Players to play Serenade for Strings, Op. 20 by Sir Edward Elgar, a piece consisting of three movements and a solo from Zak Robbins. Following that they played a piece called “Ghosts of Bohemia” by Joshua Reznicow with solos from Fox Clarke, Zak Robbins, Jacob Lewack, and Joe Bennion.
After a brief set change, the Chamber Winds ensemble was ready to play. Unlike the other groups, they only performed one song, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in the difficulty and near ten minute length of the song, which was an arrangement which featured a recurring motif from a shaker hymn. The piece was called “Chorale and Shaker Dance” by John Zdechilk and featured incredible soloistic parts from Mary Smock, Gavin Anderson, Casey Salerno, Casey Teahan, Sophie Smith, Liam O’Toole, and the entire trombone section.
The jazz portion of the night was heavily influenced by Duke Ellington, who is credited with transforming jazz into the genre it is today and popularizing it. The middle school jazz band played his tune, “Take The ‘A’ Train,” while the high school jazz band played Duke Ellington for the first three of their four songs.
The first piece the high school jazz band played was “Cotton Tail” by Duke Ellington. Soloists included Hank Ader, Casey Salerno, Ethan Warhaftig, and Vivianne Kust. They continued with “Prelude to a Kiss” by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, and Irving Gordon. This tune is slower than the others they played, heavily featuring Anthony Ricci playing the baritone saxophone which is instrumental (pun intended) to the song. They continued with “The Mooche,” again by Duke Ellington and Irving Gordon, with Hank Ader and Nico Mangili soloing, before finishing off the concert with “Buckjump” by Trombone Shorty, featuring solos from Anthony Ricci, Ava Halsing, Ethan Warhaftig, and Hank Ader. This tune was a spectacular end to the concert, providing the audience and musicians alike with an energetic melody to boost the concert across the finish line.
Junior saxophonist Casey Salerno commented, “The concert was a blast! I love making music with my peers.”
All in all, the after-school music ensembles represent why the music program is so important. It creates an atmosphere where students can feel comfortable and have fun with their friends while advancing their musical capabilities.
