Winterfest Packs CMS Gym Monday, December 20, 2010 By Junior Sean Brier The seventh grade band warms up before playing In the Valley of the Ancients and Deck the Halls with Dazzling Drummers. - Sean Brier Advertising It was time once again for the most jam packed concert Cameron Middle School hosts. On December 16, CMS hosted Winterfest--the art show, and band/choir concert all in one. “We combine art, choir, and band all together. It’s becoming an uncommon thing to do, but it’s really good to put all those things together,” said Band Co-Director Blake Duren. Winterfest is all about putting on a show for students, parents, and the community. Outside the middle school gym, students show-off their art projects they did over the course of the semester. Once inside the gym, attendees were brought into the world of music. The sixth grade band started off the concert with selections from their Essential Elements band book. Some songs included were When the Saints Go Marching In and Up on the Housetop. The seventh grade band then played the songs In the Valley of the Ancients and Deck the Halls with Dazzling Drummers. Next, the Junior Dragon Singers took over and sang A Jubilant Christmas, Beautiful Snow, and Christmas(Mixed Up Christmas). The eighth grade band then played the songs Eine Kleine Naughtmusik and Christmas Rock. Jazz Band ended off the concert with their pieces. “Winterfest was great. We had an extremely large turnout. [The audience was in] four rows of chairs and also had people standing in the aisles,” Mr. Duren said. The chairs and aisles were for the people who couldn’t fit in the bleachers across the whole side of the gym. Every group has been preparing for this concert for at least the past month,” Eighth Grader Savannah VanBrunt said, “We had to do a lot of vocals. We had to sing the song once through [over and over]. He [Choral Director Brian von Glahn] told us what we did wrong and then he worked us through the whole song again and again.” Savannah was in both eighth grade band and choir. “We just had to practice, practice, practice!” said Eighth Grader Jacob Cole. Jacob is also in eighth grade band and choir. The choir group did a fun piece called Mixed Up Christmas. It was about how one of the students dropped the calender and all of the holidays got mixed up. “It was a haphazard. All of the other songs are ‘stand straight, do this’ and then for this [Mixed Up Christmas] it’s do the complete opposite. It was really fun,” said Jacob. “We have certain objectives we go after. We just work at all our goals and objectives on a daily business,” said Mr. Duren. Mr. Shane Jones and Mr. Duren make sure all of the bands are ready for this concert. The band teachers put together the Jazz Band, or 7:02 Jazz Band as they’re called, also. The band is a mix of high school and middle school students and they capped the concert off. They ended the concert with the tunes Big Band Holiday and Chameleon. The band featured four soloists: Freshman Colby Scroggins played a trumbone solo during Big Band Holiday. Junior Nate Rose-Heim played a trombone solo during Chameleon along with Sophomore Aaron Balliett on trumpet and Junior Lindsey Studyvin on Bari-Sax. Overall, the concert was a big hit. “It’s hard to ask for a lot more than that; everything went really well,” said Mr. Duren. The concert will continue with its tradition over the years and combine the fine arts into one show, showing how much passion CMS has with their fine arts programs.

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