Mozart wigs and pirate hats were two of the joyful touches to this year’s winter concert. During most concerts, Archer’s smaller musical ensembles display their spirit by wearing fun costume pieces or colorful accessories. Behind the scenes of the production, the Orchestra Leadership team distributed colorful hearts with personalized messages to each musician.
The winter concert took place Feb. 12-13 after being delayed a month due to the California wildfires. Choir Director Bri Holland and Orchestra Director Hannah Murray decided to change the theme of this year’s performance from “New Beginnings” to “Come Together” in light of the loss and hardship caused by the fires.
“Because both myself and Mx. Holland are new here and we’re bringing a new energy to everything, it felt like a new beginning,” Murray said. “But after the fires, it just wasn’t quite the tone that the Archer community was really going to resonate with or want.”
Since Murray and Holland are new faculty members, they faced challenges while navigating the traditions and structure of the winter concert. However, they found support in the Archer parent community, who provided them with their knowledge of concerts in the past.
“So at the beginning, I wasn’t sure how to structure things and how to ask certain people to do what or who even to ask,” Murray said. “Some of the parents stepped in to show me previous forms, and they gave me a list of questions to prepare for and of things that they knew needed to be covered.”
Archer’s campus was closed during the wildfires, which caused condensed rehearsal times. Freshman Samara Gottlieb is a member of the Unaccompanied Minors and the upper school choir. She said rehearsals felt more rushed, and there was not as much time for memorization.
Gottlieb noticed that more rehearsal time was spent participating in bonding activities than in past years. She said that the music directors placed emphasis on creating cohesive ensembles.
“We played games like pick a side, mostly simple games that would show us each other’s interests and even musical likes and dislikes,” Gottlieb said. “It was really cool to get to know everyone, as a musician, and then as a person too.“
Senior Hayden Seid is an upper school choir leader. Her role includes raising group morale and fostering team-bonding. She noticed the music community was especially supportive and understanding of one another during this concert.
“Everyone was just lifting each other up and leading with kindness and approaching every situation from a place of understanding and love,” Seid said. “It has just been complete community the whole time.”
Similar to Seid, Gottlieb said this year’s concert environment was extremely supportive towards those impacted by the fires.
“I noticed other students reaching out to each other and many people who were impacted by the fires,” Gottlieb said. “People were there for each other. This is a community, and when somebody is going through a hard day, you can feel that emotionally.”
To share supportive, confidence boosting messages, the Orchestra Leadership Team created and decorated heart-shaped notes that celebrated each musician in the winter concert. Eighth grader Harper Cox enjoyed receiving her heart.
“It made me feel like I did something good,” Cox said. “It made me feel happy.”
Murray noted that the upcoming spring concert will remain as scheduled, despite the later date of the winter concert. Although there will be less rehearsal time, Murray is confident that Archer musicians will succeed.
“Most of the repertoire is selected and picked, and now that I know how effective and efficient Archer musicians are, I feel like we could do another concert next week.” Murray said. “They really understand how to get through a rehearsal process and really focus. We make so much progress so quickly. It’s really impressive.”
The Winter concert is an Archer tradition that provides musicians with an opportunity to perform and connect with other student musicians. Coming together to celebrate students’ musical talents is essential Murray said.
“It’s important for us to always come back to our routines, get back into the groove and schedules that we’re accustomed to,” Murray said. “There’s a level of resilience that’s really cultivated when we say that the show must go on.”
To hear some of the sounds of the musicians preparing for the winter concert, check out this episode of The Scoop, hosted by senior reporter Charlotte Burnap.
