Last week, all the bands, including guitar II and jazz, have all hosted winter concerts on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of December. They were all after school and took place in the auditorium, around 7 pm.
The concerts all had the same pricing, which was $10 for general admission, $7 for students and faculty, and free for kids who are two and under. Snacks were also sold. People who attended a concert received a slip for the songs that would be played.
Honors band played on December 3. It was a winter-holiday theme, with songs like Hanukkah Holiday by David Marshall playing. They have been practicing for a couple of months, slowly layering in different instruments and parts. In total, they played three songs, ending the show at 7:45. “It went pretty well, we had some soloists duets that played at the beginning, so they were a little nervous, but overall it was a pretty good concert,” Mr. Cardona said.
On December 4, both jazz-band and guitar played, with guitar starting the concert off, and jazz-band concluding the show.
For guitar, 18 songs were performed, ranging from various bands like Linkin Park and Arctic Monkeys, and artists such as Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars. There was no specific theme, however the main genres played were rock, metal, and r&b. Not only were there Coral Springs Charter School students, but there were also guest performers from the band, SOS. They had an opportunity to perform at the concert with the assistance of sophomore Enrique Matos.
Preparations for the concert started at the beginning of the school year, every class, for around 30 minutes. Students were able to choose a minimum of three songs and at most 4-5, based on the genre that was assigned that specific quarter. “In terms of practice and how they rehearse,” Mr. Arguello explains, “they always know I always critique them, I always put comments, and whenever there’s something that sticks out to me that they haven’t rehearsed, I’ll call them out and tell them to work on that specific section.”
All the practice did pay off for the students, and the concert went well. “Everyone did fantastic, I’m really proud of the fact that my vocals have evolved so much in one year,” sophomore Mason Martinez says.
After the guitar performance, which ended around 8:40, it was time for the jazz-band’s turn. “Jazz-band started preparations for the concert mid October because of marching band, which takes up a lot of time,” Mr. Cardona says. “So, it’s been about two months of practice, we’d rehearse twice a week for two hours after school.” They had three pieces at the concert, with no specific theme. One of the songs played was Leap Frog by Joe Garland. They started playing around 8:55, and the show finished off at 9:10 with many satisfied by their band’s performance. “The Jazz performance went great. The solos were beautiful, on time, and everything was smooth,” senior Toline Abdelhafiz says.
Finally, on December 5; Symphonic Band, Beginning Band, and Wind Ensemble performed. There were a total of nine songs, all of which being winter and holiday themed. 2-3 pieces were assigned to each group, but the song, Sleigh Ride, by Leroy Anderson, was performed by all three groups.
The students that were a part of the concert have been working hard to perfect their show for weeks. “Beginning band was the slowest to get started because they were choosing their instruments. It mostly consists of 6th graders, so they started learning music around November,” Mr. Cardona explains. “But the other groups have been working on fundamentals and slowly transitioning into some of the Winter music, which I’d say is a couple months of practice.”
During preparations, issues with pieces and schedules came up for students. “The biggest challenge was playing the piece, Sleigh Ride,” freshman Shivesh Jagoo says. “However, I overcame this by simply practicing the piece a lot.” Despite each issue that has come with the upcoming concerts, all the students pushed through and gave their best performance. “We’ve made a lot of progress with the rehearsals we’ve had, so that’s really good,” junior Amar Shatila says. “We made a lot out of rehearsals and made it worth it. This concert went really well.”
Though the concerts were unique and different in their own ways, each band worked hard to put on a good performance. With all the Winter concerts over for the bands, it’s time for them to work on other things, and soon practice for their next concert, in May.
