The Marquette Chorus, Band and Orchestra performed their Music Area Holiday Concert on Dec. 3 in the Varsity Theatre.
As the musicians dressed in Santa hats took the stage and the large crowd gathered in, the concert began with the jazz band. Each ensemble group performed about 10-15 minutes of music.
Erik Janners, Director of Music and leading the Orchestra and Band said this concert has been held at Marquette since 2010.
“We thought it would be nice to have an event on campus for the student body as a sort of celebratory holiday nature, of light holiday music and fun music. We realized that a lot of our music groups never get the chance to hear each other,” Janners said.
Alyssa Jarosz, president of the Marquette Band and a senior in the College of Nursing, said the two bands, Jazz and Concert practiced three times a week since mid-November, after their previous concert.
“There’s two jazz bands so they’re just going to play the same songs so it’s going to be like one big jazz band and then same with the concert bands. It is more fun that way, it’s more of a community thing and then it’s just Christmas-y holiday vibes,” Jarosz said.
Closing out the show with “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson is a bittersweet feeling, Jarosz said.
“It’s nice because we are playing ‘Sleigh Ride,’ and I did play that my senior year of high school so it’s full circle for me. Senior year of high school and senior year of college playing ‘Sleigh Ride’ and it’s such an iconic Christmas song,” Jarosz said.
Jarosz said she considers band as an activity for a way to destress.
“It’s my time to relax and everyone’s pretty close in band, a bunch of my friends are in band so it’s like a big band family. It sounds cheesy, but it’s true so it’s really nice to make music with your friends,” Jarosz said.
Other holiday songs such as, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Silent Night” and “The Nutcracker” were performed by the chorus, orchestra and jazz ensembles.
Matt Waters, a concertmaster of the orchestra and a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, said he enjoys being able to play alongside the other music groups on campus.
“I think it’s just a great thing especially around the holidays as well, it’s all good spirits and holiday cheer,” Waters said.
The orchestra practiced Tuesdays and Thursdays for the month leading up to the concert. Waters said the music was on the easier side compared to other concert music.
“We’ve been working on it for a while and just been locking it down I’m sure people also rehearsed on their own time, so do I. In terms of being ready for the concert, I just say be confident and have a good time because that’s what it’s all about,” Waters said.
Waters said he plans to continue his role as concertmaster for the remainder of his time at Marquette.
“I enjoy it, I’m lucky to have the position since second semester of freshman year. I’m going to stick with it, I love it,” Waters said.
Janners said the students enjoy the light-heartedness of the holiday concert, so it makes learning the music more enjoyable.
“It’s coming into the end of the semester and they’re really busy academically, so I think they enjoy the fact that it’s less intense and they don’t have to work quite as hard [added] as their academics are ramping up,” Janners said.
The concert brought holiday cheer and hosted a food drive for the Feeding Wisconsin Southeast Chapter. People attending were encouraged to bring one nonperishable food item to donate to families in need.
This story was written by Mimi Sinotte. She can be reached at [email protected].
