As the holiday season approaches, the sound of sleigh bells ringling, tingling and jingling lights up the auditorium with spirit and joy. The Portola High instrumental music department presented the “Twas the Night: Tales and Tunes” concert with band and orchestra performing on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 respectively.
Though the band and orchestra had unique set lists, they joined together on both nights to play a medley of music from nostalgic Christmas movies. Brass emulated the horns of trains in “The Polar Express,” woodwinds brought the whimsical mischief of Kevin McCallister to life with John Williams’ score for “Home Alone” and the strings brought warmth to a rendition of “Where Are You Christmas?” from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” During the several-minute-long medley, the audience also heard memorable tracks from other holiday classics such as “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “The Miracle on 34th Street.”
The concert also marked many firsts, including a collaboration with students from Advanced Theatre and Portola Singers. During the Nov. 30 performance, the Wind Ensemble accompanied Advanced Theatre members as they performed a section of “Peter and the Wolf.”
“I thought it was very cool because I had never heard of anything like it and I was both very excited and honored to perform for them,” Advanced Theatre member and junior Alexia Choi said. “But I also felt anxious that we wouldn’t do their music justice on stage. I think we worked hard and we tried our best so it was a very fun experience and I learned a lot working with orchestra.”
This lengthy, continuous performance required additional focus from the ensemble, according to clarinet player and sophomore Wonny Jang.
“After practicing in small chunks, we start grouping things together and doing longer runs, and that’s when you have to apply what you learned in the small chunks,” Jang said.
The Dec. 1 performance included a live to picture film music play along to the 1982 British animation “The Snowman.” As the titular snowman fled into the snowy night in the dramatic climax of the film, Portola Singers member and senior Nithila Francis performed the vocal accompaniment to the theme song. The incorporation of singing over live orchestral music was whimsical and ethereal, according to Francis.
“The most memorable part of the concert was the orchestra playing the chorus of ‘The Snowman’ after I stopped singing because it almost reminds me of that beautiful scene from ‘Tangled’ where they all start singing at the square, and they’re all dancing,” Francis said.
The incorporation of multimedia technology in the instrumental concert was a novel and creative way to engage the audience, according to sound board operator and junior Amicus Carrasco.
“It was cool,” Carrasco said. “I had never set up so many in-ear monitors on stage, much less wired ones, so it was a new process for sure but it was pretty cool.”
As the holiday spirit continues to embrace our campus with merriment and mirth, the performing arts department will make another appearance at the “Spirit of the Season” vocal concert on Dec. 15.
