March Music Highlights
The end of the musical “Geppetto and Son” does not signal the end of activities for Northwood’s bands, orchestras and choruses: the spring chorus concerts, a visit to all three jazz bands from a guest clinician and Mr. Case’s Graduate Recital are some of the highlights of March for the music department.
Northwood’s choruses will be performing their spring concerts on Tuesday, March 23. Among the songs performed by the six choruses will be the Chamber Singers’ “All That Hath Life and Breath,” featuring soloist junior Duke Kim, and “Good News”, an African spiritual featuring four soloists: seniors Andrew Kim and Anupama Tadanki and juniors Jojo Nakano and Dian Qi.
“What’s really great about the Spring Concerts is that [it's the time of year] when [all] the choirs, especially Treble Clef and Bass Clef, show off just how much they’ve been working,” said junior Sara Clayton, a member of Chamber Singers. “Their sound is totally different from their sound when they performed at the fall concert.”
Northwood’s bands and orchestras will also be busy with performances including, but not limited to, spring festivals. Each group will be performing during March, some groups multiple times. On March 10, guest clinician Dan St. Marseille visited Northwood’s Jazz I, II and III bands to listen to their set of pieces and give them advice and instruction to improve their technique.
“The clinician has been a professional jazz saxophonist for his entire career,” said Erik Emery, associate director of music at Northwood. “He has recorded five different albums.”
Guest clinicians at Northwood in the past have included musicians working for American Idol and professional musicians from Disneyland. Each visit is a great learning experience because clinicians have brought their own instruments along to model techniques for the bands and demonstrate what a piece should ultimately sound like. The jazz bands will be performing the same songs for the clinician that they will perform for the Irvine Jazz Festival next Saturday, March 20 at Irvine High.
“It’s really motivating and inspiring,” said Emery.
In addition, Ben Case, the director of all bands at Northwood and Philharmonic Orchestra, will be conducting Wind Symphony on Friday, March 19 for his Graduate Recital . This performance is one of the last parts of his Masters’ Degree in Instrumental Conducting and consists of three professional-level pieces.
“The scope and difficulty of this concert is unlike anything we have done before,” said Case.
Watch out for the IUSD Instrumental Band Festival at Northwood on March 17 and 18 and Orchestra Festival at University High on March 24 and 25 as well! Stay tuned for more updates on Northwood’s hardworking and talented musicians.
