Christmas Band Concert at WCS: A night of merriment and music!

December is one of the busiest times of the year. For students, December is a month of stress and anxiety, with midterms approaching, projects due and long anticipated grades finally being put in the gradebook. Yet, such academic pressure is also accompanied by the festivity Christmas brings to the school community. And thankfully, here at Westbury Christian, the fine arts program has hosted a few Christmas-themed celebrations to brighten up the mood, one of which is the Upper School Christmas Band Concert.

At around 6:00 p.m. on December 9th, students from 5th grade all the way up to 12th showed up at the McCloy gym, some wearing “tacky” Christmas sweaters of the traditional colors: red, white and green. These dedicated students had been practicing the same pieces for weeks to perfect their skills for this special night, and it was a rather difficult task for those who were new to their instruments. 

As the benches crowded with families and faculty members, Mr. Nathan Wagner, the head of school, began a speech briefly introducing the band concert, and then proceeded to end with a prayer for everyone. After the audience had quieted down, Mr. Jacob Ward, our band director, started to conduct each age group through different songs from “Santa’s playlist”, which included many familiar, heartwarming melodies such as “Jingle Bells,” ”Frosty the Snowman,” and “Greensleeves.”

A few unexpected mistakes were made during the performance, but this did not drastically affect the overall presentation, and the enthusiastic applause from the audience after each song reassured the students that this concert was indeed a success. The Christmas jokes and one-liners Mr. Ward read out between transitions helped boost the holiday spirit even more. 

After an hour of listening to the merry tones produced by saxophones, flutes, trombones, drums and trumpets, the guests were welcomed with hot chocolate and cookies served by the beloved faculty member Mrs. Shara Carr. Some of the tired young musicians rushed into line to claim their treat and enjoy one more blast of the jolly Christmas spirit before confronting the harsh reality of final exams the next day.