NEWS: First NASD Music Fest Sings (and Plays)

by Ethan Bachstein, freshman

The Nazareth Area School District was proud to present the first annual Nazareth Music Fest! Musical talent from across the district was in attendance on Thursday, February 3rd, featuring singers and musicians from each of the district's schools. The students practiced together all day at NAHS to prepare for the evening's performance.

The festival started the night with “Great Beginnings” and “Tamboura,” directed by both Ms. Mann and Mr. Hillborn. The choir started with a male section, giving two songs, and then moving on to the female section singing “Mr. Sandman” and “White Winter Hymnal.”

Following them up, the Crescendudes sang a few songs, such as “Come Go with Me” and "Build Me Up Buttercup." Following their lead, the Noteworthy sang the classics “Hello My Baby” and “Mr. Sandman.” For the big finish, the band and choir joined together, performing the National Anthem and placing their hands on their hearts as they recited the Pledge of Allegiance in unison mid-performance. As the performance concluded, the audience erupted into applause, giving the students a standing ovation.

The goals of the event were to build district-wide connections between students in the music department and to help rebuild the enthusiasm for the arts after two years of disruptions.

When the pandemic began, many musical events were postponed for safety. And as Mrs. Rocchi mentioned, it was not easy to make this happen: “I never thought singing could be dangerous. But we are back!” said choir director Mrs. Rocchi. 

A lot has changed, but what never did change was the music department’s drive to make this happen again.

 

FEATURE: Once in a Lifetime Opportunity Catches Hilborn in its Snare

by Kaylie Kirkham, junior

For 6 ½ miles in Pasadena, CA, the streets are lined with people. Cheers and hollers emanate from the crowd, threatening to drown out the main attraction. But the magnificent sound of the band can never be smothered.

The Rose Parade is one of the most prestigious parades in the nation, featuring enormous floats covered in flowers. But this year, the Rose Parade has a special meaning for the students here in Nazareth. Our very own band director, Rick Hilborn, was selected to be one of the eleven snare drums in this year’s Rose Parade.

COVID-19 hit music programs really hard. A lot of parents and students were concerned about the spread of germs that would result from blowing into instruments and singing. Bands and choirs all across the country struggled to cope with new restrictions and the loss of members.

In response to this, The Music Educators National Conference decided to put together a band consisting of 300 band directors from every state in the nation to march in the Rose Parade.

When Hilborn first heard about this opportunity, he thought, “Okay, what do I have to lose? I have nothing to lose, but maybe a lot to gain.” He recorded an audition video and sent in his application. One the last day before Christmas break of 2020, Hilborn received an email saying that he had been accepted as a snare drummer.

“Since that day…there has been a lot of preparation. We started to get music for this back in June of last year… so obviously the music has to be learned. It has to be memorized,” Hilborn said.

The Rose Parade is different from many other traditional performances, in that the band members don’t actually come together to practice until three days before the parade. They will meet on Dec 29 for the first time and practice for 3 straight days until the performance on Jan 1.

“I was working on my own in preparation and I was excited to see what everything was going to sound like. They’ve given us recordings of the music that we can play along with and practice with but you really… [have] to do all the preparation on your own basically,” Hilborn said.

Hilborn is very excited to be a part of the Rose Parade this year. He said he feels honored to have been selected to participate in such an amazing event. He cannot wait to see everything come together. However, Hilborn is also feeling a little anxious about his upcoming performance.

“It's a little intimidating to prepare because you want to be prepared and you want to have a good time doing it, but at the same time…I don’t wanna go out there and make a fool of myself,” he said.

Not only does Hilborn feel honored to be a part of the Rose Parade, his students do as well. Tanishka Dhingra, a flautist for the NAHS marching band, said, “Mr. Hilborn, he is awesome at his instrument…He totally deserves it. It's a really awesome opportunity, and we are happy for him.”

“I’m so proud of him,” adds trumpet player Alison Hawley.

Hilborn has been working tirelessly in preparation for the Rose Parade, but he is ready. He flies to California on Dec 26 and cannot wait to march with the band on Jan 1.

The Rose Bowl will be streamed on ABC, NBC, Hallmark Channel, and HGTV at 8am PST on New Year’s Day. Hop on to watch Nazareth’s very own band director, Rick Hilborn, play snare drum in the Rose Parade of 2022.

Psssst….We got inside info from Mr. Hilborn that Hallmark or HGTV are the best places to catch him because sometimes the networks cut to commercials during the bands!

Photo Credit: Mr. Hilborn

NEWS: Prism Concert Shines

by Ethan Bachstein, freshman

On December 8th and 9th, music lovers got a special holiday themed treat. The Nazareth Prism Concert brought together a culmination of instruments and voices alike, with the additional joke here and there.

Photo Credit: Mrs. Jameson

The Prism Concert is a special kind of performance in which many artists, including singers, musicians, and even poets are placed in several different spots throughout the stage and house. This method of performing is intended to envelop the audience in the music and the performance itself. And envelop it did.

The event had many groups participating, the one of the largest being the Concert Choir directed by Mrs. Rocchi. Several of the a capella groups, including Cantus, Nightingales, and Crescendudes made an appearance as well.

There were a few instrumental groups, with brass and woodwind sometimes in unison, sometimes acting separately. Mr. Hilborn and the Concert Band had several pieces of music to play, as did the NAHS Orchestra and string ensembles. 

Another major highlight was Block of Rock. Grace Cuevas and Kelsey Condon were the lead singers, backed up on guitar by Colin Grohotolski, on the drums by Caleb Thurneau, and on the Keytar by Jacob Kremer.

A good performance is impossible without preparation and plenty of hard work. According to Mrs. Rocchi, “This was our third time that we’ve done the holiday Prism concert. We took about 2 or 3 Eagle Blocks to figure out the order of the songs.” The arduous task of putting on a show for an audience is nothing to take lightly, but the outcome is often quite rewarding.

The Sound of New Choral Music

By Graeme Olson

The Nazareth High School chorus program has two new groups starting this year, and it is an exciting time of change for those involved.  

There’s now an auditioned all men’s choir, Men of Nazareth, which rehearses every Tuesday and Thursday after school.  It has 13 male vocalists in its first year of existence.  Choral director Mrs. Kelly Rocchi said her inspiration for starting an all men’s choir was that female members also got attention in Nightingales, while male singers didn’t have the same opportunity.  So, she believes having this all male choir will help male and female singers be “on a level playing field.”

However, Men of Nazareth isn’t the only new group starting in the Nazareth choral program this year.  Cantus, an elite choral group with 16 singers, is an auditioned group that rehearses every F Day during Eagle Block.  It is essentially the replacement for Chorale, the former auditioned co-ed group that rehearsed after school.  Chorale had about 30 members, so Cantus is more exclusive, about half that. 

Cantus perform at Lehigh University. Photo Credit: Kelly Rocchi

Cantus is a particularly elite group, as there are only 4 people for each voice part (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).  And because Cantus typically only meets on F days during Eagle Block, the students must come to each rehearsal having practiced their music.  How is the new group working so far?  In the words of Mrs. Rocchi, “so far so good.”  She says because the singers in Cantus have proper vocal technique, that helps them despite their limited amount of rehearsal time.  

Liam Condon, a member of Cantus, described Cantus as a “very hard working group of people who truly love what they’re doing.” He emphasized the amount of dedication and involvement it takes to be a member of this group.  Since there’s little rehearsal time, everyone has to be more dedicated to practicing.  Cantus has already done two gigs, one of which was called “Night Lights,” which helped raise money for cancer research.  They also sang at the “Joyful Noise” event in Bethlehem, which was a celebration for the city recovering after Bethlehem Steel closed.  Overall, Liam told me that he thinks Cantus will reach its full potential as the year goes on.  

It should be noted that the other new group, Men of Nazareth, is a very new experience for Mrs. Rocchi and the male singers in the group.  Mrs. Rocchi bought an exercise book called “The Resonant Male Singer” that helps male singers with vocal technique.  She says that teaching male singers is very different from teaching the Nightingales, as male singers have different anatomies and deeper voices. Rocchi has focused on helping the group become more resonant singers, with a forward and clear sound.  Their first big event was Saturday, October 12th, where they participated in the “Men of Song” festival at Penn State with high schools all around the area, with well over 200 singers, including the Penn State glee club.

Men of Nazareth enjoying pie. Photo Credit: Kelly Rocchi

 Now, where did the names “Cantus” and “Men of Nazareth” come from anyway?  Rocchi says that “Cantus” is the Latin word for “sing.”  Since a lot of choral music is in Latin, that definitely makes sense.  

Rocchi considered a few possible names for the all-male group, though, and thought about calling them the “Knights,” as the name sounds similar to the Nightingales.  She made clear that many guy group names are pun-oriented, like Crescedudes, so she decided to go with the more powerful and professional-sounding Men of Nazareth. 

Altogether, there are now 6 different vocal groups at Nazareth.  When asked if managing all of them was stressful, Mrs. Rocchi replied quite simply at first: “Yes!”  However, Rocchi believes it is rewarding, and that her experience of teaching for 15 years has helped her out. 

When there are so many different singing groups, organization is key.  Rocchi emphasized that in smaller groups there’s a heightened sense of responsibility for each member; if someone is screwing up, it’s more easily noticeable, so it makes everyone work a bit harder.  She saw that as a positive, but if a few members of a section are missing from rehearsal, that can be detrimental.  

As for the future of the choral program, Rocchi dreams that one day there could be 40 men in the Men of Nazareth group, just like the Nightingales.  However, she feels that Cantus should be kept at 16 members, as the competition means that hopefuls will work harder on their music in order to get in the group.  

It’s an exciting year of change for the Nazareth choral program.  Both of these groups will contribute well in our concerts and events around the community.