PHS Music's Exciting Kick-Off

Jing Wang - November 1st, 2023

On October 5th, The first concert of the 2023-2024 school year was hosted by the PHS Music Program; held at the PHS theater at 7:00 pm, the fall concert featured the Jazz Band, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, String Orchestra, Concert Choir, and Chamber Choir. Miss Marisa Finlayson (Ms. Fin), a new teacher this year, is the director of the orchestra and all the bands. Ms. Tania Mannion is the choir director, and there are only two choirs at PHS.

The first group to perform was the Jazz Band. They started off with “The Chicken '' arranged by Kris Berg. If you enjoy pieces of music where solos are prevalent, then this musical group might be the one for you! During “The Chicken,” there were 5 soloists: Jillian Tang with the electric bass; AJ Marcoux on the alto saxophone; Joel Zanudo on the baritone saxophone; Emily on the clarinet; and Samantha “Sam” Jackson on the flute. The jazz band’s second song was “Cry Me a River '' arranged by Victor López. Sam Jackson was the vocalist and sang along with the band as they played the song. Her voice was powerful and pleasant to the ears.

The concert band played next.It consists of only freshmen, and there are 18 members in this group. They played “Somewhere over the Rainbow” arranged by Mike Story, and “Millennium” arranged by Michael Story. Did the same two people arrange both songs? We’ll never know. In the Concert Band,there are a lot of instruments where there is only one player. For example, Keshav Sharma is the only tuba player and Michael Leu-Arias is the only euphonium player. Being the only player of a section can present an unique problem: if you get off beat, you’re off rhythm and have nobody to fall back on. These single section players are amazing because they are able to keep themselves with the band! If you like loud noises--I mean if you enjoy your music a tad bit louder than others, Concert Band is a great group to hear!

Following the Concert Band, the Wind Ensemble played next. This group is primarily made up of upperclassmen, and their first song was “La La Land Highlights” arranged by Michael Brown. The song was a nice listen, and even if you have never watched La La Land, the songs still ring a bell and make you want to dance. Their second song was “Amazing Grace” by Frank Ticheli. Like the first song, this piece was also performed beautifully; Wind Ensemble is able to portray the elegance of their musical pieces very well because of their prior experience playing their instruments.

Now it's time for the long-awaited and neglected Strings Orchestra! Band does not equal Orchestra. In an all-string orchestra, like the one that PHS has, there are four main instruments: violin, viola, cello, and double bass. It is important that we acknowledge our only viola player in the Strings Orchestra: Olivia Higareda! Thank you for being our entire viola section. Getting back on topic, the Strings Orchestra’s first song was “Autumn” from the Four Seasons, and “Autumn” smoothly transitioned into “Winter” where Amelia Rupert played the solo. Both pieces were from “The Four Seasons” composed by Antonio Vivaldi. The orchestra’s second song was “Finale from the Firebird” arranged by Michael Story, and it was an uplifting and enchanting piece.

Lastly, we have our two choirs! Concert Choir is about half the size of Chamber Choir with only 10 people while the Chamber Choir has about 20. The Concert Choir started off by singing “How Far I’ll Go” (from Moana) by Lin-Manuel Miranda and arranged by Audrey Snyder. After the Concert Choir’s first song, the Chamber Choir took over and sang “Puttin on the Ritz” by Irving Berlin and arranged by Kirby Shaw. The second (and last) song that the Chamber Choir performed by themselves was “And Make It So” by Douglas Wagner. 

The concert ended with a sing-a-long to “Dancing Queen” by Abba and arranged by Alan Billingsley. After the Chamber Choir’s 2nd song, the two choirs combined, and the Combined Choir performed this last song as members from the audience sang along to a timeless favorite. It was a fun night, and no matter how bad you thought your voice was, you still sang along to Dancing Queen because why not? The night was sweet and convivial with refills of laughter and joy; the performers joked about their mistakes when they played and gushed over the other groups’ performances. 

The night of October 5th was hectic but full of happy feelings, and I hope that you join us at our next concerts on December 5, 2023 (all bands, orchestra, and mariachi) and December 7, 2023 (PHS choir).