Every autumn the band, choir, and strings students of St. Robert School’s 5th through 8th grade put on a concert for parents, teachers, cousins, and siblings. The students prepared by practicing a lot as Evie, a saxophone musician states, “I practice everyday.” The music pieces the students are learning vary in difficulty as Audrey, a violin student, states, “This piece is really hard, but we are working really hard, and getting through it.” The concert took place at 6:30 on Thursday, November 8th, 2018.

Many of the students note that they have been taught really well by their dedicated music teachers. The choir teacher this year is Mrs. Gall, who is currently on maternity leave, so in her place Ms. Nelson has been teaching; the band teacher is Mr. Zolinski (Mr.Z); and the strings instructor is Mr. Perez. All of the teachers are very experienced in each of their areas. Ricky, a choir student, reflects on how the choir teachers have been using their expertise when he states, “Our teachers are making sure that we are singing the notes, and [that we sing the] rhythm right.” 

The music pieces the 5th grade band played Go Tell Aunt Rhodie, and Lightly Row. The 6th grade played A Prehistoric Suite. 7th & 8th grade choir sang were Revelation 19, and Hymn to the Russian Earth. The 7th & 8th grade band played the piece Regenesis (Song of the planet) for the concert, and finally the 7th & 8th grade strings played a quartet by Haydn, no.4. The students at St. Robert School are very excited about their music classes this year and feel that they have been learning a lot of new things in their music classes, which are on Mondays and Thursdays. 

The band instruments that were included in Regenesis were the trumpet, trombone, saxophone, flute, clarinet, and percussion. Before the concert, Sam, an 8th grader, explained, “I feel like [Regenesis] will be a lot of fun to do with the 8th graders because it is a new experience, and will just be a lot of fun.” Sam played the xylophone in this most recent concert. Furthermore, a Ricky, a choir student explained in the days before the performance, “I’m kind of nervous because we may mess up, but I like the songs since they are fun to sing.” Ricky has been in choir for two years, and enjoys it. Finally, the string instruments that were included in the concert were violin and the cello. Audrey plays the violin, and she felt, “excited for the concert because I like our songs.”

The concert took place at St. Robert at 6:30 on Thursay November 8th. The musicians were spectacular when playing their peices. Since this concert just ended, already, and the students of band, strings, and choir are preparing for the next concert. The next concert the Christmas concert which is in December. The students love sharing what they learn from their music instructors to their parents.