For its winter series concerts, Aragon’s music program featured its jazz band in the theater on Nov. 19 and the rest of the bands performed on Dec. 3. It will share its choir and orchestra ensembles’ progress on Dec. 10.
Each of the concerts started at 7 p.m. and were held in the theater. Due to the difference in the formatting and style of music between the jazz band’s concert and the all-inclusive band’s concert, they were held on separate days. Director of the Bands Kevin Gallagher also said that the audiences for the jazz concert are different from the other bands’ concert.
“It’s so much better … sound-wise, but also friend-wise to be in person”
“The students that are in the jazz groups are not necessarily in the other bands, so [the audience is made of] totally different parents, totally different people,” Gallagher said. “Also, some people like to listen to jazz more than they like to listen to classical band music.”
The music played in the jazz concert included latin music, rock-style music and traditional swing. The music program also had sophomore Maya Efron perform as a vocalist alongside the jazz students for one of the songs.
At the jazz concert, student musicians each had their favorite piece to play. For freshman jazz ensemble member Naveen Schwarzkopf, that piece was “Hunting Wabbits.”
“‘Hunting Wabbits’ is this cartoon-style piece,” Schwarzkopf said. “It’s very playful [with] a lot of nice dynamics. It’s really fun to play and fun to listen to.”
On Dec. 3, the wind ensemble, symphonic band and concert band played a variety of traditional holiday music, traditional Spanish music and theme songs from Star Wars and Pokémon. One of the ensembles also performed alongside Principal Valerie Arbizu, who narrated “The Night Before Christmas.”
Following the band concerts, on Dec. 10, the string orchestra, chamber orchestra, men’s choir, women’s choir and chamber choir will perform. There will also be performances from Treble with Angel, the girls’ a cappella group, September, the boys’ a capella group and Group Name, which is the co-ed a capella group.
For two of the pieces that the combined choir will be performing, their families will join them on stage.
“We’re doing two pieces with combined [choir] with everyone’s families singing with them,” said Director of Choirs and Orchestras John Chen. “[The pieces are] ‘Somewhere in My Memory’ which is the piece from … the classic movie ‘Home Alone’ and a Hebrew melody ‘Bashana Haba’a.’”
Some of the other performances at the choir and orchestras’ concert will include three joint pieces between chamber orchestra and men’s choir. As these pieces are performed, dancers from the advanced dance class will be performing as well.
While the concerts do count as credit toward the music students’ grades, they are more of a way to share the music program’s progress. Chen believes that most music students have stopped seeing these concerts as tests for what they have learned.
“I think at this level, at our advanced high school level … freshmen to seniors, people are less in that mindset,” Chen said. “I think [the students] are really just concentrating on conveying the music across to the audience.”
“I’m really impressed by the students, how independent and mature they were”
For the concerts, members of Aragon’s Tri-M Honor Society Chapter 3534 will perform with their ensembles, as well as help out behind the scenes at each concert.
“They were ushers [and some] helped to set up the equipment [then] break down the equipment at the end,” Gallagher said. “Also, they’re the ones who put the program together [and] who sold certain items.”
For the student musicians who played at the jazz concert, such as freshman jazz band member Kat Russell, doing in-person concerts is a lot better than digital concerts.
“It’s so much better … sound-wise, but also friend-wise to be in person,” Russell said. “You really connect with the people that you play with and you get to clap for them.”
For the jazz concert, many audience members were either friends or family members of the student musicians. For audience member Liyu Wu, the concert was very enjoyable.
“[It was] amazing,” Wu said. “I think it exceeded my expectations, honestly. I’m really impressed by the students, how independent and mature they were, and also the hosts [as] they were very funny.”
