The winter concert took place at Winslow Middle School on Dec 13, 2022. Band, orchestra, and chorus each performed three songs, some of which were holiday themed.  The concert was held from 6-8pm in the middle school cafeteria.

The Star Spangled Banner was my favorite to perform and a majority of it came easily to me,” describes 8th grader Jadeyn Wood.  

The band students are directed by music teacher, Mr. Garonzik, a fourth year teacher at WTMS.

“Our students prepared for our concert by coming to our after school rehearsals on Wednesdays. We worked on the pieces we were going to perform and learned about rehearsal etiquette for making our band successful. I also like to record them playing through their pieces and upload it to our google classroom for them to hear what needs to be improved and what sounds good,” explained Mr. Garonzik.  

The band encompasses both 7th and 8th graders, all with different skill levels, some of which have been playing most of their lives. 

“It wasn’t necessarily harder to teach the seventh graders the notes and rhythms versus the eighth graders but more so targeted towards the types of instruments we have in the band. For example, a flute is in a different key than a trumpet which is in a different key than an alto saxophone. The tricky part is making sure they are all playing the proper notes and rhythms based on their instrument,” Mr. Garonzik noted. 

The concert featured songs that were centered around the holiday season, as well as some old classics. 

“This year for our winter concert, we performed The National Anthem, a Welsh Hymn song called “All Through The Night”, and a version of Carol of the Bells called “Christmas Bell Carol”.

The students performed seamlessly and appeared as though they were professionals. 

“Overall I feel as though our concert was extremely successful. The students worked very hard over the fall months. We had several setbacks over the months with students missing rehearsals and dropping out of band or not showing up to rehearsals, so I feel this was a very good performance for them and a great experience for them to understand performing in a concert setting.” 

If you missed this year’s winter concert, the music department will be hosting a spring concert as well as performing at the WTMS annual community night in May.