The band’s holiday concert defrosts each year in early December to provide music and education to younger elementary school children who visit Madison for the performance. This year’s shows took place on Dec. 4 and 5 with two morning shows and one evening show on Dec. 4. The concert is a long-standing tradition that brings joy and provides engagement to local kids, while also allowing a chance to teach them about music and the performing arts programs at their pyramid high school.
The concert included 23 musical selections, from holiday songs like “The Hanukkah March” to TV tunes like the Paw Patrol theme, and even Christmas classics like Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.” The Wind Symphony begins rehearsing their performance material in early November, and the color guard and Symphonic band–who play characters during the performance–have their costume fittings the Monday before the show. The night before the first performance, the band and color guard have their first and only dress rehearsal.
“My dress rehearsal was a huge disaster, and I was so scared that the actual show would come and it would go just as horribly,” Zelda Hornberger (’27) said.
Other than the dress rehearsal, the band members who play characters have almost no time to practice transitions and timing. More experienced Symphonic band students take the lead in guiding the group of toy soldiers, who march, skip and entertain the crowd throughout the event.
“I think a challenge was how many moving parts it had and ensuring everything was running as smoothly as possible with three people in charge,” Emma Lavery (‘28), one of the backstage managers, said.
The managers supported costumed characters backstage, including opening doors for entrances, making sure characters were ready for their parts, and keeping everyone on schedule.
“I wanted to be a manager because I knew what I was getting myself into, and the group was a good group that could be joking around and then the next moment, could be very serious,” Lavery said. “We ended up finishing everything on time and actually getting ahead of schedule a little bit. It was a great group of people to work with.”
Despite what happens at the dress rehearsal, band members arrive on the day of the show, and the performances went well. At the end of each performance, characters assemble in the hallway leading out from the auditorium, where they greet children and their parents. Kids get to take selfies with their favorite characters as they walk out of the building.
“[The meet-and-greet] is really fun when all the little kids give you high fives,” Katelyn Strug (’27) said.
After the morning shows, students return to class, often covered in the fake snow that pours in from the catwalk at the end of the performance. The lights, music, and festivity of the event left everyone in a jolly mood for the rest of the day.
“It’s very inviting to audiences of all ages, including humor, music and entertainment,” Kai Teale (‘28) said.
