by Kayla Ward, reporter

The concert and jazz band will be holding their annual winter concert on Tuesday, December 16th at 6:30 pm. The band is made up of twenty-three high school students, and twenty- three middle school students (6th-8th grade). The concert band will be playing three songs, and the jazz band is playing four.

“I like playing music all time, but I love how close we are,” senior, Liz Strauss says, “We are like one big family and all my best memories from band are with them.”

The concert band will be playing “Jolly Alto Saxophone,” “The Wonderful Sounds of Christmas,” and “Kris Kringle’s Jingle.”  The jazz band is performing “Nutcracker Rock,” “The Kings of Swing,” “God Rest You, Merry, Gentlemen,” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

“I like ‘Kris Kringle’s Jingle’ because it is the most challenging to play, fast, and requires good timing,” senior Luke Eggert told me.

The Musical Performance Team (MPT) is made up of five sections; the clarinets (Meghan Donohoe, Lauren Donati, Lauren Hill, Jessica Lauer, Sam Sterner, Kaitlin Feller, Triselle Samuels, Trisanna Samuels and Lauren Van Essendelft), the trombones (Matt Miller and Isiah Ventura), the saxophones (Luke Eggert, Chris Williams, Liz Strauss, Cole Frycklund and Victoria Asbrock), the flutes (Hannah Mordaunt, Kyra Popovitz, Abby Bleicher-Healy, and Kelli McFee), and last, but not least, the rhythm section (Sean Marzen, bass; Adam Brown, Marimba; and Lexi Hill, drum set). Each section will be playing a different song.  The clarinets will perform “Frosty the Snowman,” “The First Noel,” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”  The trombones are playing “Silent Night,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” The saxophones are playing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Let it Snow,” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.”  The flute’s songs are “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “Away In a Manger,” and “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.” The rhythm section is performing “The Hanukkah Song” and “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree.”

“We get the little books full of music and flip through them to see which songs we would like to play,” Isiah Ventura stated.

The middle school also performs in the winter concert. The middle school kids are the 6th through 8th graders, and they play with the concert band.  There are twenty-three middle school students who are taking part in the concert.

“I love playing with them,” freshman Lexi Hill says, “They’re nice and it’s nice to have a full band and see people of all ages, especially younger, showing off their talents.”