Middle School Band members perform in Winter Concert

By Laura Eisener

The Middle School Winter Concert attracted a good crowd. Due to the audience being larger than expected, there were not enough programs to go around. The line snaked around the hallways to the auditorium doors, but everyone did get a seat once they were inside.

The sixth graders started the concert with “Hot Cross Buns” – moving on to “Down By The Station.” The kids did a great job, especially considering that some of these young people had not even held their instruments until a few months ago.

A traditional English folk song called “Country Walk” was among the charming tunes, and then one of my favorite seasonal carols, “Good King Wenceslas.” The music included some songs that most people would be familiar with, such as “Jolly Old St. Nick” and “Jingle Bells” but also a round called “Sweetly Sings the Donkey.”

A special guest was Miss Massachusetts Teen Maggie Leighton from Leominster High, who is an advocate for music education. She spoke briefly on the importance of music, then joined in on some of the songs on the piano herself. All three middle school grades – six, seven and eight – played “Candy Cane Lane” and a few more seasonal songs. Music directors Justin Jones and Evan Smith provided the names of the songs for the benefit of the audience. After the sixth graders rejoined the audience, the older students performed a few more tunes, including a medley from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and a creative mashup of “Silent Night” and “All Through The Night.” The more experienced group also played “Feast of Stephen,” a more complex version of “Good King Wenceslas,” before the Middle School Jazz Band took over the performance. Their version of “Up on The Housetop” had some delightful extra flourishes from what is most often heard.

During the Intermission, the Band Parents announced the raffle basket winner. Evan Smith accompanied the chorus on the piano following the intermission. They sang a Hannukah song, then “Winter Stillness,” which incorporates some traditional German songs, “Silver Bells” and “Holiday Road.”