I was excited to go to the Pulaski Community Middle School winter choir concert on December 15! It's always so nice to see former students perform, and I was able to catch up with several of them after their concerts.
6th grade choir
7th grade choir
8th grade choir
7th and 8th grade combined choirs
The Pulaski High School Chamber Choir, directed by Ms. Elissa Richardson, sang some beautiful prelude music before the concert began. Here they are performing the Pentatonix arrangement of "Mary, Did You Know?"
The 6th grade choir was up after that! They opened the concert with Greg Gilpin's song "Can You Hear the Angels." This song included a few Lannoye/Hillcrest graduates as soloists!
The next piece was for the 6th grade handbell choir, which includes a few Lannoye/Hillcrest grads as well. Enjoy "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."
This was followed by a beautiful song that gave me chills. Two Lannoye grads are featured in "There is Peace," by Jim Papoulis.
The rest of the 6th grade concert featured some more great holiday music: "Up On the Housetop" (B.R. Hanby), "Love Came Down" (a beautiful partner song with "Away in a Manger," arranged by Ruth Morris Gray), and an audience singalong with "Our Winter Wonderland" (arranged by Audrey Snyder, including "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" and "Winter Wonderland"; it also featured two Hillcrest grads).
The 7th and 8th grade concert was up next! They opened with "Deck the Hall," arranged by Mark Patterson. The next song was "A Festive Noel," which Victor C. Johnson arranged with the traditional German carol "In Dulci Jubilo."
He was also featured on "Christmas Toys on Parade," arranged by Mark Weston.
After that, the 7th grade women sang "Ring Silver Bells," arranged by Audrey Snyder.
Then the 7th and 8th grade bell choir performed "Silent Night" in between the 7th and 8th grade portions of the concert.
The 8th graders opened their portion of the concert with "Follow That Star" by Brian Lewis.
The 8th graders also sang "Mary Did You Know" (Mark Lowry, Buddy Green) and "Sleigh Ride" (arranged by Andy Beck) before the 7th graders came back onstage. The 7th and 8th grade choirs combined to perform "Christmastime" by Michael W. Smith and Joanna Carlson.
The 6th grade band has been playing since August, and they've been working hard! They opened the concert with "A Seven Note Medley," arranged by Bill Simon, which included Yankee Doodle, Old MacDonald, Lightly Row, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Ode to Joy. Every instrument got to play the melody on at least one song.
The 6th grade band's next piece was "Holiday Sampler," arranged by John O'Reilly and Mark Williams. This minute and a half medley included snippets of O Come All Ye Faithful, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, O Come Little Children, Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, and Good King Wenceslas.
"Holiday Sampler," performed by the 6th grade band, conducted by Mrs. Michelle Henslin
The final 6th grade piece was "Constellation March" by Joseph Compello. This piece had some fun drum breaks and a trumpet soli at the end. Six trumpets came out front to play the memorized soli. I was proud to see that two of them were former students of mine from Lannoye and two of them were former students of mine from Hillcrest!
The 7th grade band started their portion of the concert with "Star Wars" by John Williams, arranged by Doug Adams. The 7th graders have been an extremely dedicated group, taking advantage of extra times to come in and practice. This resulted in the band being able to learn triple meter, a concept they usually don't do until the spring. Thanks for the fun 6/8 piece, John Williams!
"Star Wars," performed by the 7th grade band, conducted by Mrs. Val Spaulding
"Sing a Song of Christmas," arranged by James Curnow, was the second piece on the 7th grade's program. It was a medley of Angels We Have Heard On High, Deck the Halls, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Sing We Now of Christmas. The students got all sorts of articulation practice on this one!
The 7th graders closed their portion of the concert with "Terracotta" by William Owens. This piece was written to portray the building of the Terracotta Army of ancient China, which took 700,000 workers almost 40 years to complete. Listen for the harmonic tension that represents the workers' stress.
Part of "Terracotta," performed by the 7th grade band, conducted by Mrs. Val Spaulding
The 8th graders performed four pieces. Their first piece was Sandy Feldstein's "Blues March." Their second piece was a Chip Davis (founder of Mannheim Steamroller) arrangement of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," featuring solo flugelhorn. James Kinyon's "Suffolk Celebration" was next on the program. This piece got its name because it was commissioned by a middle school in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. (I thought that was neat - my mom is from Hicksville, NY, which is close to Suffolk County. My grandparents, aunt, uncle, and a few cousins live in Suffolk County, and another uncle and a few cousins live just west, in Nassau County.) The final piece on the program was the lighthearted "Sledder's Carnival" by Len Orcino.
Part of "Suffolk Celebration," performed by the 8th grade band, conducted by Mr. Tim Kozlovsky
Congratulations to all of the middle school band students and directors on a well-performed concert! Best of luck for the rest of the year, and I look forward to hearing you play again on May 3!
