Now that stores have brought out decorations and holiday music is playing, the Christmas season is here to stay. At DHS both band and orchestra are getting ready to play in their annual holiday concerts.
Winter break is right around the corner and while some students may consider this a time to slack off a little, band and orchestra are starting to prepare for the big holiday concert.
Students in band, orchestra and choir have to prepare so that they are ready for the holiday concert. They usually spend most of their time practicing in class, so it doesn’t really create a lot of extra work for these students.
The band students don’t get a double work load trying to prepare for the holiday concert and their music conference.
“[There is] not really [a lot of extra work],” junior Emily Peterson said. “Because we are playing the same songs at the concert that we are using for our music conference this year.”
In the orchestra there are a few different groups but a more advanced group called Honors Orchestra, puts in a little extra time after school to really peak their performance.
“Well, Honors Orchestra is a different group,” senior Seamus Barlett said. “It is for more advanced people and we practice on Monday nights [after school].”
The band hits two birds with one stone; they create extra practice time for the music conference, while at the same time getting a test run at the holiday concert. This way they can see where they could use improvements, if any.
Students typically have been in band or orchestra for their entire high school career and the majority of them also played in middle school. They aren’t new to concerts, as they have either preformed before or have enough experience they don’t even get nervous.
“For a holiday concert, personally I don’t [get nervous],” Peterson said. “I’m last chair so I don’t have a lot of responsibility.”
Band and orchestra have different requirements for performance dress code. In orchestra they have a concert uniform. Honors Orchestra member sophomore Rachel Lew commented on the outfit requirements.
“We have a concert uniform,” Lew said. “It’s like a tuxedo.”
The band however, has a completely different outfit requirements according to Peterson.
“[Band] dresses up in nice clothes- you can’t wear jeans or anything,” Peterson said. “Just something that looks nice. And Symphonic Band, they have Amish looking uniforms.”
But the students in all of these classes put in lots of work so that they can put on a good show for everyone who the community who comes out to watch.
