Sonoma Music Festival
On March 14, Aragon’s Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble performed at the Sonoma Invitational Wind Band and Orchestra Festival at Sonoma State University, with schools from around Northern California. Their performance was judged by a board of nationally recognized music directors, and afterwards, each ensemble had a workshop with one of the judges.
Aragon attends the festival every year.
“[Sonoma State University is] one of the thriving music university programs in Southern California,” said Director of Orchestras and Choirs John Chen. “They bring in world class clinicians [from] universities around the nation. They also [make] professional recordings of the performances.”
To prepare for the concert, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble began rehearsing from the beginning of spring semester.
“Every single time we had class we made sure [that] we were practicing [for the festival],” said senior Alysia Evans Asano, who plays flute in Wind Ensemble. “[We] built up to the phrasing and all [of] the different parts [of the pieces] because [each] piece is long.”
However, sophomore Aidan Schneider, who plays tenor saxophone in Wind Ensemble, offers another view of how the ensemble prepared for the festival.
“[It felt] very stressful. It crept up on us quickly,” Schneider said. “I feel like we didn’t have enough time [to fully prepare, even though] we practiced every day.”
Going into the concert, Aragon’s aim was to perform well. Unlike other festivals, Sonoma does not award ratings based on the skill level of the ensembles.
“The goal [is] to really strive for excellence and to perform at a high quality level [to] have everyone perform to their best ability,” Chen said.
At the festival, Chamber Orchestra performed the second movement of “Serenade”, the opera intermezzo “Cavalleria Rusticana”, and an American piece, “Hoedown”. Wind Ensemble performed “Fate of the Gods,” “Shenandoah” and “English Folk Songs.”
Students reflected on the performance.
“We were able to watch one school [before our performance] and that really scared us a lot,” Evans Asano said. “So we messed up so much during our performance because they had been the best of what we had seen so far. [Overall], our performance was good. But there’s always room for improvement. Knowing that we were humbled that day, that means that we want to be better.”
“I think [Chamber Orchestra] did okay,” said junior Medha Rakesh, who plays violin in Chamber Orchestra. “We’ve been working on our rhythms for a while. As a group … we did pretty well. [But] for [‘Hoe Down,’] we sped up a lot.”
Following their performances, the ensembles had a 30-minute session where a judge provided feedback on their pieces.
Some viewed the comments as helpful.
“[The judge said that] we needed to work on our core sound and our dynamics and really bringing everything together [in our pieces],” Evans Asano said. “[When] we came back from the festival … [we rehearsed] a piece [and] it sounded a lot more deep and musical and altogether… like the song that it was meant to be.”
Chamber Singers will perform at the Sonoma Festival on April 26.
Santa Cruz Jazz Festival
On March 15th, Aragon’s Jazz Ensemble traveled to Santa Cruz to perform at the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival. They played in front of a panel of judges and had the opportunity to earn scholarships.
The festival was competitive and spanned two days.
“It [is a] pretty big festival,” said junior Alex Zhao, who plays trumpet in Jazz Ensemble. “And [there are] great bands [there]. The best [bands] in California go there.”
The festival was Jazz Ensemble’s first competitive festival of the year, after participating in three non-competitive festivals. Students elaborated on the preparation process.
“We spent all of our class time, the weeks leading up to the festival, practicing our set,” said junior Isabella Lew, who plays trumpet. “And then also individual players went home and practiced their own parts.”
The band also brought in outside help in order to elevate their playing.
“We actually had a clinician come in who works with [the] Stanford jazz program,” said Director of Bands Kevin Gallagher. “His name is Steven Leonor. He came in and worked with the band and gave a different perspective. It’s good to have a lot of outside people coming in [to] shed light on something that maybe the students didn’t hear before.”
Students commented on Leonor’s efforts.
“We’ve had a professional musician come in one day and he really picks apart at all the songs,” Gulati said. “It forces us to [improve] and I think that’s what Mr. Gallagher wanted when he brought him.”
Occasionally preparations became stressful due to high standards.
“Everyone wants to hold each other up to high standards,” Lew said. “Ensuring that everyone is meeting those marks can be stressful sometimes.“
Jazz Ensemble performed the pieces that they had prepared: “Ardiente,” and “Living Larger Than Life.”
During the festival, they played a piece they had never seen before selected by one of the judges, a process called sight-reading. It proved to be a challenge for the band.
“In [the sight-reading] piece, there was something called a [D.C. al Coda], [where] there are a bunch of repeats or like second endings,” Zhao said. “So [it was] sort of hard to follow and I know we got lost at some points.”
Students enjoyed the collaborative nature of the festival..
“We [were] taught a seminar by one of the guest performers,” Zhao said. “She came over and then she [gave] a whole lesson on improv.”
Reflecting on the event, students were proud of their effort.
“I think it went pretty well,” Lew said. “It wasn’t perfect, but you know, no performance is ever going to be perfect. I think we played our best. And that’s all that matters.”
Gallagher concurred.
“We got really high scores from all the judges except one,” Gallagher said. “Honestly, [I] felt like the judges were a little easy on us. I almost felt like we could have gotten a lower score from the other judges.”
Pops Concert
On March 28, Aragon Music held its annual Pops Concert at the Theater from 7-8:30 p.m. The concert was performed by the choirs, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. The 2024 theme was “Sounds of Music,” showcasing a variety of different music including music from different movie sets.
The event served as a major fundraising event for the Aragon Music Boosters.
“We did raffle baskets and roses for sale,” said Aragon Music Boosters Fundraising Co-Lead Jennifer Hwang. “All the money [is used to] help buy new instruments, repair instruments and pay for music clinicians to come and teach the students, as well as music festivals and pays for transportation [to competitions].”
In anticipation of the concert, the groups practiced together during flex as well as in their class periods.
For the musicians, it was challenging to combine the different types of music.
“It’s always a surprise [to play with Wind Ensemble] because we play in different styles,” said junior Maya Patnaik, who plays violin in Chamber Orchestra. “So whenever we play with them, orchestra’s a bit quieter and band’s a bit louder. [However,] everyone worked hard to blend and sound good together.”
At the concert, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble performed “The Sound of Music,” a sampler of all of the songs in the movie-musical, followed by the loud “Anvil Chorus.” Men’s Choir then joined to perform a softer choral piece, “Homeward Bound.” After intermission, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble performed “Dark Knight Rises” from Batman, and then “God Bless America” with the combined choirs. For the finale, all of the groups performed the gospel piece “He Never Failed Me Yet,” featuring solos from junior Ellie Rose and senior Z Carracedo as well as freshman Elisa Castillo.
“It’s always nice to hear band, orchestra and choir in songs together,” Patnaik said. “Especially if all three [ensembles] are playing in a group, the music sounds a lot better.”
Musicians commented on their performance.
“It was really nice to see our music and the efforts [of Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble] come together,” said freshman Reet Bhatia, an alto for Women’s Choir. “It’s really rewarding when we performed the piece. Everything [went] well. The audience seemed really excited at the end.”
Bhatia added that the choir initially struggled with projection.
“Especially during the first few rehearsals, I couldn’t hear myself because of how loud [the band and orchestra] were,” Bhatia said. “But on the day of the performance, we were mic’d up [and] we were singing louder than [we did in] rehearsal.”
Audience members offered their views on the concert.
“I like the vibe of it,” said senior Sarah Cabbiness. “It’s nice and cozy [and has] a warm feeling. It was fun.”
Others echoed this sentiment.
“It’s really well-organized,” said Aragon parent Sugei Arevalo. “All the people did a wonderful job. They look like professionals.”
Following the concert, the Music Program prepares for their spring concert series which will take place throughout April.
