Sixth grade band members perform during a Christmas concert Dec. 17.
The sounds of the season were alive and bright Dec. 17 as the Lincoln County High School Choir and Band put on their annual Christmas concert at the Neldon C. Mathews auditorium in Panaca.
Before the show began, Jacob Lester, the choir and band director, mentioned that this performance would be the last one before the sixth-grade students in the band would have to choose whether or not to continue to pursue music. Lester encouraged the parents of these sixth graders to keep their kids involved and said that if they did, they would be “pleasantly surprised” by the students’ progress in the following years.
With that, the sixth graders began their set with the classic Christmas song, “The Little Drummer Boy,” followed by “Countdown to Christmas.” After the young musicians finished, Ava Markarian, Trinity Brackenbury and Jackson Free stayed behind to perform “Still, Still, Still.”
Meadow Valley Middle School’s band then took the stage, performing “A Cartoon for Christmas,” followed by “A Canon for Christmas” and the “Hallelujah Chorus.” Between these students and the sixth graders, there was a noticeable improvement, which Lester was keen to point out.
After a short break, the Lincoln County High School band walked on stage. They began with “Celtic Christmas,” followed by another holiday classic, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Their next number was a bit unorthodox, as they used a medley of classic Christmas songs played in a darker tone to set a different kind of mood. Raymond Wadsworth provided narration, talking about the one character in the entirety of Christmas mythos that could cause a fright on Christmas night: Krampus. “A Christmas Tale,” as the number was called, reminded children to be good, or coal might not be the worst punishment they receive.
Then the band setup was quickly changed out for choir bleachers as the concert choir joined the show. Accompanying them was Natalie Whimple, who kept up with each song expertly. The choir’s first song was “Sing Noel,” followed by the dulcet tones of “Silver Bells.” They finished up with “A Christmas Gloria.” Then MacKenzie Marshal performed a beautiful solo of Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.”
Show Choir then took the stage, accompanied by Karen Culverwel, who answered the choir’s call for a last-minute accompanist. They started with “No Room, No Room,” followed by “O Come All Ye Faithful.” MacKenzie Marshal and Kylie Truman soloed during “The Snow Begins to Fall.”
Before the last song, Lester thanked the audience and everyone involved. He made sure to thank the night’s accompanists, as well as Klark Black for coming in and helping with music. Then the concert came to a close with “Mary, Did You Know?”
