On March 30, Aragon Chamber Orchestra and Choir, along with Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, and Symphonic band drove down to Disneyland and California Adventure, where they performed on Saturday, March 31.
David Martin, Chamber Choir and Chamber Orchestra director, commented on his experience performing at California Adventure, “I think the schedule was really smooth…it was one group after the other, so most of the groups had the opportunity to hear the rest of the groups perform as well.
“[Orchestra] performed very well. [The audience] really liked our programming and we had a good percentage of the kids from Chamber Orchestra. It was funny how out of three basses, none of them could go initially, but one of the basses, Daniel Gorn, did end up going, which was nice because we needed to have a bass,” explained Martin.
It may have been southern California, but the weather was far from sunny. “Chamber Choir just lucked out because there was rain just before, or just after, [they] sang. We were kind of going, ‘Uh, what’s going to happen?’, but it ended up being clear and it went well. We had full chamber choir pieces and we had a couple duets and a couple of soloists as well. Disneyland was very appreciative that we gave individual kids the opportunity to perform,” commented Martin.
Sophomore Nina Canton commented, “I liked performing in front of the people at Disneyland the most. We had the opportunity to share our talent in front of people other than the Aragon community.”
“The performance was nerve wracking at first, but after performing the first song, it seemed like another ordinary performance. I liked the pieces we performed because there was a lot of variety and as Mr. Martin would say, the songs ‘fit the style’ of our group. The way we sing songs like ‘April in my Mistress Face’ is energetic, like our group,” explained Canton.
Troy Davis, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band director commented on his experience performing, “It was really cool. I’ve done this before, but for most of the students on the trip it was their first time performing in Disneyland.
“[The performance] went well. The practices paid off because we had students in the band on the tour who are in three different classes of mine, so they don’t rehearse together regularly. So we had to add practices outside of class in the morning. The time that we put into it is all part of the journey. To me, by the time we get to the performance it’s wonderful, it’s fun and the people love it, but where we’re really learning and getting the most out of it is during the rehearsal process.”
Sophomore Ria Patel explained, “Performing in Disneyland was absolutely magical. The cast members who helped us out were super nice and the clinician we worked with in the recording studio was hilarious.”
“It was really cool to be up on stage in the happiest place on Earth and play music. It felt a little different than at our school performances and it was just a lot of fun,” said Patel.
The groups performed publicly, so anyone who was in the park had the opportunity to experience Aragon music. “The other interesting thing about [performing] was that we could be performing for anybody. Millions of people go to Disneyland every year from all over the world. So, of course there were the people who’d joined us that we knew were listening, but there were also other people who could’ve been from anywhere; all across the US, other countries and that’s one of the things I like about a live, public performance like that,” Davis said.
Along with performing for the public in California Adventure, students got a look at what Disneyland is behind the scenes and what it takes to make Disneyland the “happiest place on Earth.” Davis explained, “[We] got to go backstage and see what most of the public does not get to see. There’s scaffolding and tractors and people walking around in regular clothes, and just real world stuff. It’s so weird…it’s still Disneyland, but it’s a completely different world.”
Not only did they perform like professionals, but students were given the opportunity to work with professional musicians and clinicians who have worked on Disney movies. Each ensemble quickly sight-read–which is reading music for the first time and playing it–and then performed clips of songs from Disney movies. The movie clip and the recording were then put together, and the groups were able to hear themselves playing the background music to well-known Disney movies.
Martin commented on the sight-reading and recording workshop saying, “[The students] got to feel the pressure of, ‘Okay, you learn something really quickly, you get ready and record.’”
Patel explained, “My favorite part of the trip would have to be when we went to the recording studios and recorded some of the music heard in Disney movies like ‘Tangled’ and ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. It was an amazing learning experience and I feel so honored to have been a part of it.”
