Watchung Hills Regional High School 2017 Middle School Concert

Submitted by Denis Kelly, WHRHS

As 8th grade students in Warren Township, Long Hill Township, Watchung, and Green Brook Township settle into the last half-year of their middle school career, they do so having received the gift, three days before Christmas, of being able to feel “Warrior Pride” as the future Watchung Hills Regional High School (WHRHS) Class of 2022.
The soon-to-be First Year high school students, were the guests of honor at the 2017 Middle School Choral & Instrumental Concert, Friday, December 22, 2017, at the WHRHS Performing Arts Center (PAC). They were welcomed by the Warrior Music Department, whose participants performed selections and highlights from the Winter Instrumental and Choral concerts that entertained audiences on December 7 and 14, 2017, respectively.
Likewise a small number of WHRHS Dance students and members of the Marching Band Color Guard provided choreography for some of the selections at the concert. Several behind-the-scenes student production crew volunteers helped make the concert a smooth performance.
Among the choral music highlights at the Middle School Concert was a reprise of the Choral Concert’s crowd-pleaser, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” by Queen. The anthem had figured prominently in the movie, Wayne’s World,” and the theme of the concert was “Music in the Movies.” The “Bohemian Rhapsody” arrangement at the concert appropriately included student musicians on piano, electric lead guitar and bass guitar, and a drum kit.
Likewise, among the highlights from the Instrumental Concert performed at the Middle School Concert was the Wind Ensemble’s rendition of perennial favorite, “A Christmas Festival,” by Leroy Anderson.” During a break in the main performance space behind the curtain on stage, during which production crews rearranged chairs and music stands to support different set-ups for the various instrumental bands, a smaller musical group of student musicians, The Sax Quartet, performed several jazzy numbers. Among them was, appropriately, “Take Five,” Dave Brubeck’s best-known composition.
As future Warriors filed out of the auditorium to return to their middle schools and then to their holiday week off, current Music Department students lined their way out, giving them greetings from WHRHS. Many encouraged the Class of 2022 to consider joining them next year as singers, instrumentalists, dancers, Marching Band and Color Guard members, and even production crew volunteers.

(above) Among the choral music highlights at the Middle School Concert was a reprise of the Choral Concert’s crowd-pleasing finale, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” by Queen. The choral director is Choral Music Teacher Angela DiIorio Bird, (left).

(above, l-r) Two Marching Band’s Color Guard Flagbearers, Junior Daria Monti, and Junior Victoria Tartivita, of Stirling, contributed a sense of movement to the number, “May It Be,” from “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”

(above, l-r) Freshman Kayla Chun of Green Brook, Sophomore Jenna Hansen of Gillette, Freshman Olivia Kider of Warren, Freshman Alexis Roskosny of Warren, Sophomore Brianna Cosas of Watchung, Sophomore Abigail Kotar of Millington, and Sophomore Brianna Robinson of Green Brook.

(above) During a break in the main performance space, which gave production crews an opportunity to rearrange chairs and music stands for instrumental bands, a smaller musical group of student musicians, The Sax Quartet, occupied the interest of the audience by performing several jazzy numbers. Among them was, appropriately, “Take Five,” Dave Brubeck’s best-known composition

(above) Eighth grade students from Middle School in Warren Township, Long Hill Township, Watchung and Green Brook Township, all soon-to-be First Year high school students, were the guests of honor at the 2017 Middle School Choral & Instrumental Concert, December 22, 2017, at the WHRHS Performing Arts Center (PAC).