The Third and Seventh Grade Soiree
By Eli Melrod
On December 20th, the Third and Seventh Grade Soiree took place. In keeping with SFDS tradition, it was opened by a communal rendition of the Day School Song. The third grade then began the evening with the Wassail Song followed by an American folk song titled Old Roger, which they performed twice. The second version was performed in solfeg, a technique the third grade has been using to learn sight-singing in which each note is sung to a special syllable. This was interesting to watch, because they had learned such a difficult skill at such a young age. They closed their performance with a rousing rendition of a song in Taiwanese called Processional.
The evening continued with performances by several ensembles and vocal choirs. The vocal ensemble performed Hanukah song S’vivon and Carol of the Bells. Carol of the Bells was especially impressive because of their use of canon. The guitar and intermediate string ensemble played a basic, yet satisfying song titled Good King Wenceslas.
The advanced woodwind and string ensemble followed with a ravishing version of the Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker, astonishing the audience with their extremely high skill level. The upper school chorus performed Go Tell it on the Mountain and Celebrate the Feast of Light afterwards. Both songs were impressive because they incorporated different aspects of music including complicated rhythm, canon, and many different octaves being sung consecutively.
The seventh grade began their performance with body percussion displaying the beats and rhythms of jazz. Seventh grade had been working on the history of jazz leading up to the soiree. They learned the rhythms and melodies of greats including Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, and many more. They took ideas from these jazz musicians and displayed them in their performance.
The seventh grade had also been working on reciting nursery rhymes with a jazz swing tempo. They recited a few ryhmes and then performed their stand out piece of the night, Jazzy Saint Nick. The seventh grade had an enjoyable time preparing to perform Jazzy Saint Nick and it definitely showed in their performance. Their final piece was a jamming version of the song Blues by Five as written by Miles Davis. In that song different students got the opportunity to improvise.
To close the evening, the third and seventh grade performed a rendition of the religious song Mary Had a Baby. The soiree was then concluded with a group singing of Silent Night. The soiree was a tremendous success, giving students the opportunity to share their skills and passion with a supportive audience of parents.
Return to SFDS eNews Homepage |
