By: Diana Padilla and Isabel Martinez
Winter is officially here, and the El Diamante choirs will be having their winter concert on December 8th at the LJ Williams Theatre to help kick off the holiday season. The concert choir will be collaborating with advanced orchestra during their set of songs. They will also be accompanied by choir students from La Joya Middle school during one song as well. The choirs and orchestra will perform songs like “Jingle Bells,” “White Christmas,” and other holiday classics with a few winter songs you might be less familiar with that are still sure to impress.
“We are very proud of our sets and program as a whole,” says Choir President Vincent Navarro. “Attending the concert] not only supports the program but also the people within the program such as family, friends, and community members…. There’s just something about the live experience that just can’t be emulated through stereo.”
The beginning soprano/alto, bass clef, advanced soprano/alto, concert, and the chamber singer choirs have been working on their music since October, and everyone has put in a great effort to make this concert the best that it can be.
The Orchestra has been putting in a lot of hard work leading up to the concert. Working hard for a month, hours on end, so that we can put on a great performance. Both of the orchestra teachers are very excited about this concert. Winter is a really fun time to perform because that’s where all the performing arts programs come together to perform. Band, orchestra and choir all come together to play three songs every year.
When asked how he prepares for these concerts Mr. Avila explained that it “Starts by collaborating with the teachers at El Diamante to decide what’s best for the students that we have this year cause every year’s different. I prepare in class with the students, I learn it as I go with the students, it’s fun like that, it keeps the work at work and not at home and it’s just healthier for me that way.”
While working with Mr. Witt and Mr. Hearne makes these concerts easier to bear; all of the teachers still feel some stress, “Yes [combined concerts] can be more stressful depending on how difficult the pieces are”, and it very much is. The time span to learn the pieces isn’t that much, and it does get difficult at times. Second guessing the pieces and thoughts of having to scrap the song and replace it. But in the end it l turns out well. We play our three pieces and we have a good time.
When asked how excited they were, Avila claimed that, “On a scale of 1-10 I am a 9.5, I’m excited”.
Mrs. Scrafford stated, “I’m very excited cause it’s my first time [teaching] high school doing a concert with Mr. Witt and Mr. Hearne too, yeah everybody, to me that is just so fun. From being in middle school all those years to coming here and having everybody in high school is really good so it’s very exciting. I can’t wait to hear the choir and the band too”.
Everyone involved in this collaborative concert has put in a great amount of effort and work into making it amazing. And they are very excited to show everyone what amazing songs they have in store. They will perform at the LJ Williams Theatre on Friday, December 8th. Tickets are available at the door.
Hi Diana, we really enjoyed your story, it was extremely well worded and organized. We liked how you interviewed both the teachers and a few students, it made the story more diverse. It was very enjoyable so thank you for creating this and Merry Christmas 🙂
“…There’s just something about the live experience that just can’t be emulated through stereo.” A quote that’s absolutely true, it’s a wonderful experience that one can never get over. I really do agree with the Choir President. But I hope they had a lovely performance seeing as they were excited, students and teachers!