As the holiday season nears, festivity manifested in the form of music at the annual Winter Concert, held on Dec. 12, in the school’s Performing Arts Center.
The concert opened with the full orchestra playing “Radetzky March” by Johann Strauss and movement one and two from “The Nutcracker” by P.I. Tchaikovsky, followed by three pieces by band, four pieces by orchestra and seven pieces by jazz band.
A new electric violin, gifted by the TPHS Foundation and TPHS Music Liaisons, made its official debut.
“Now we are able to do different types of pieces [with the electric violin]; [for example], we are doing a Bollywood piece that has a percussion backing track and gives it a different tone quality,” Music Director Amy Gelb said. “In the jazz band, we did not have an electric violin for the first concert, so Jenny [Ryu (11)] used a microphone that was clipped onto her violin, which was not ideal because we could hear her breath.”
Students also expressed excitement about the new electric violin.
“My favorite piece at this concert is ‘Bollywood Strings’ because I have a solo and get to play the electric violin,” Anthony Kim (11), first chair of violin one, said. “I want to express my gratitude to the Torrey Pines Foundation for helping fund the violin. It is a really interesting experience because I am used to playing the acoustic violin, so I have to adjust sound differences, and I can’t hear myself sometimes.”
The pieces were chosen before the Fall Concert, and students began rehearsing them immediately afterward.
“I spend weeks thinking about [which songs to choose], and how the pieces will work together because we want a lot of contrast throughout the concert, so it is not boring,” Gelb said. “Also we need some educational value, so the kids are learning something from each piece and being challenged at the same time.”
Throughout the six weeks between the concerts, students either practice the pieces individually or as a group in order to cohesively perform them for the concert.
“During class we either rehearse as a group or we have sectionals, which is when each section breaks out, and we practice more individual parts,” Vera Muller (9), first chair of the cello section, said. “I lead sectionals, and when you are at the front of the orchestra, you are expected to lead in your body movements and play the right notes at the right time, so people can follow your steps.”
Some students also had solos between each piece.
“We spend a couple days in class going over the chord structure of the solos and we give students a chance to work on it at home,” Gelb said. “If the students are interested in trying a solo, they volunteer to try out for it. It is a mixture of them volunteering, and me pushing them to give it a try. We try to make it a variety of instruments each concert, not just the same people every time.”
In the jazz band, the solo was improvised by the students themselves. Students received only the chord structure, and were required to create their own melody.
“For this concert cycle, my favorite piece to play was ‘Amazing Grace’ because I had a fun time figuring out improvisation for the solo section,” Ryu said. “I’m still walking little baby steps as a jazz musician, but I am hoping to improve in the course of this year.”
For the band and orchestra, the pieces had a holiday theme to them.
“My favorite piece at this concert is ‘A Mariah Carey Christmas’ because the beat is very outgoing and it feels like a blast when I play it,” Alice Wang (9), who plays the clarinet for the band, said.
Despite the excitement surrounding the pieces, Wang also expressed some concerns before the performance.
“The concert is a product of all our hard work,” Wang said. “I am nervous because I am afraid I will make a mistake because that is really common.”
Meanwhile, Ryu shared a different perspective.
“Out of expectation, I actually feel excited because I enjoyed the process of practicing with the band and have some confidence in performing well,” Ryu said. “The difference between practicing and performing is that my mind generally blanks out when we’re on stage. There’s not much obsession about certain places of mistakes nor some random thoughts that are often present during class, all that remains is the music that we are playing at the moment. I just play, and listen to my classmates play, fully observing the music that we create together.”
After the concert, the bands were awarded with applause, and the students reflected on their performance in different ways.
“I watch all the videos that my dad recorded during the concert, and reflect on certain parts I did well and others that could have been better,” Ryu said. “Sometimes, I feel the desire to perform it all over again, but there it is, it’s all over. I start to immerse myself in the music for the next concert cycle. Every moment is genuinely so fun and precious for me, so I try to fully enjoy the progress and times on stage.”
While individual reflection is important, the entire band’s collective effort also played a crucial part in their performance.
“The most noticeable things were how much we improved from the last [concert] during the fall, and we had done a good job because the rehearsals at times were kind of inconsistent, so it was really cool to see us all gel together,” Cooper Yoo (12), baritone saxophone player for the wind ensemble and jazz band, said.
