By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
The three schools that comprise the Upper Freehold Regional School District will host concerts that are open to the public this month.
Allentown High School students will present a winter choral concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at the high school, 27 High St., Allentown.
Stone Bridge Middle School pupils will present a winter band concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 16 and a winter chorus concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 20 at the middle school, 1252 Yardville-Allentown Road, Upper Freehold Township.
Fourth grade pupils from the Newell Elementary School, 27 High St., Allentown, will present a chorus concert at 10 a.m. Dec. 19 and at 10 a.m. Dec. 21.
Steven Hanna, the band teacher at the Stone Bridge Middle School, said the chorus concert will feature the seventh and eighth grade symphonic band, two breakout groups and the middle school jazz band.
The symphonic band will perform musical pieces including “Majestica,” “African Noel” and “Angels in the Bleak Winter,” which he described as a cross between the carols “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “In the Bleak Midwinter.”
The flute section of the breakout group will perform “Dance of the Reed Pipes” from “The Nutcracker” and the clarinet section will perform the theme of the video game “Super Mario Bros.”
According to Hanna, the members of the jazz band will perform three pieces, including Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Swing” and “Ko-Ko” by Duke Ellington.
“I expect this to be a really enjoyable concert. The students will impress and entertain their audience,” Hanna said. “These are talented kids who have risen to the challenge of some difficult music and I expect them to perform beautifully.
“The students here start in sixth grade and they work very hard to make rapid progress as they go through the three years of our band program,” he said. “Most of the students in this particular concert have only played for one to two years.
“This year, I have been particularly impressed with the dedication these students have and how well they work as a team. Aside from just learning about music, one of the goals of our program is to develop the students’ leadership and teamwork skills,” Hanna said.
According to Paul Sulyok, the music teacher at the Newell Elementary School, the chorus concert will feature fourth grade pupils performing Christmas, Hanukkah and winter songs. The songs are sung in unison, rounds, partner songs and with an added descant. Preparations for the concert began in September.
All of the fourth grade pupils participate in the chorus concert, according to Sulyok. Because of the large number of pupils, the fourth-graders are divided into two groups who perform on different days. Each group consists of two fourth grade classes.
Sulyok said the chorus includes a group called the Newell-Tones that is made up of pupils who give up one recess a week to work on additional songs for the concert and other singing parts to add to the regular chorus.
According to Sulyok, a choral program has existed at the school since it educated students from grades five through seven. After the December performance, the members of the fourth grade chorus work on a musical play for the spring. The school’s third grade chorus will perform songs from around the world in different languages at a concert in March.
“I have the best job in the world as a music teacher,” Sulyok said. “I am glad to have the chance to give each student a chance to perform in a concert and play before they leave our school. Hopefully, this will be a great memory in their lives. Our administration also sees the importance of the fine arts in our schools and is a big help to me in this area.”