Winter Collage Concert showcases musical skills of nearly 400 students

On Thursday, December 10th, 378 FHC students converged on the stage of the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center to play Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” as the finale of a major musical event. The final whip-crack of the song led to a standing ovation and the conclusion of the first-ever FHC Winter Collage Concert.

First suggested by band director Robert Ash last school year, the concert was months in the making and involved tricky logistics along with consistent rehearsal efforts by every student involved in band, choir, and orchestra.

“Normally in a collage concert you’d have a lot of little groups and place them all over [the auditorium] and then you’d have the bigger groups on the stage,” Ash explained. “We just did big groups, and that’s the hardest part, but I think it went very, very well.”

Thursday’s performance was a variation on the typical concept of a collage concert involving every band, choir, and orchestra group at FHC. With minimal breaks between songs, constant flow between vocal and instrumental music, and atypical locations of musicians all around the auditorium, the concert was the first of its kind for FHC and the first combined concert in many years for the music program. The eight ensembles represented at the concert drew a large crowd which comfortably filled the Fine Arts Center, still leaving enough room for unconventional flourishes such as the concert orchestra performing from the balcony and orchestra director Andrew Pool conducting from the very edge of the stage during “Sleigh Ride.”

“I think it went great. It was fantastic,” Pool said. “It was a lot of fun. … The audience loved it. That was really the best reason to do this; it’s just kind of cool. This opportunity is not something that we always get, to listen to each other, to share in music together, and to support each other like this, so it’s very cool to be able to do that.”

The energy at the Fine Arts Center was evident as nearly 400 students filed off stage and into the lobby after the concert. Freshmen Laural Lathwell and Megan Stockenaur were just two musicians who appreciated the unique opportunity of a combined performance.

“I think [the concert] was a good idea,” said Lathwell, a member of Concert Choir. “I think it went really well, and Sleigh Ride was a big success.”

Stockenauer, who also performed with the Concert Choir, agreed.

“I think every single band and choir did really well and I think overall it was just a really great performance,” Stockenauer said. “It was really fun too to perform together. … I liked hearing all the other bands and choirs.”

Listening was one key goal of the concert. All three directors hoped to expose their students to the other disciplines, giving each group the opportunity to appreciate and create music with their peers who are engaged in parallel musical pursuits.

“The reason why we did this originally [was] we really want the kids to see the other groups,” Ash said. “I want the band kids to see the choir kids, I want the band kids to see the orchestra kids, I want them to see each other. Sometimes it’s really hard; we all have our own concerts, we get our blinders on and just do our thing, so this is a chance where we can celebrate each other and make music together. That’s always better. 400 people on stage is always better than 200.”

Senior Josh Kooistra was one of a handful of students who not only listened to all the ensembles represented in the concert, but also performed with several of them. A member of Symphony Orchestra, Chorale, and Central Singers, Kooistra appreciated the unification of the hard work of hundreds of people in a single concert.

“When I joined Central Singers and Chorale last year, I just began to realize how much work each program puts into creating a quality performance,” Kooistra said. “I try my best now to go to every concert. The collage concert had a great turnout, and it definitely showcased each of the ensembles well, showing the result of a month of intense rehearsals.”

While the collage concert brought a sizeable audience to the Fine Arts Center, student attendance at fine arts performances still lags far behind that of athletic events; Pool jokes that if the music department had varsity band, orchestra, and choir, concerts might draw a larger crowd.

Kooistra noted that the lesser-known musical events often have a somewhat disappointing turnout.

“The different performing arts often go unnoticed when it comes to concerts,” Kooistra said. “Theatre shows always sell well, as does Bandtasia, but besides those, the audiences are always smaller than expected. So many people go out to support the main sports, but it just isn’t the same for orchestra. … With [the] exposure [from the collage concert], hopefully more students and members of the community will make an attempt to go to other concerts.”

The collage concert provided a freshness to the fine arts that may potentially increase attendance levels. By measure of the crowd’s enthusiasm, Thursday’s concert was a success. At the end of the evening, both students and directors were pleased with the performance itself and with the beginning of a new musical tradition at FHC.

“It was amazing.We had a standing ovation at the end; what more could you ask for?” Ash said. “[I’m] just really happy that we got to do this and share this with everybody. … I think we really showcased that we have a fine [music] department at Central High School, and that’s pretty exciting.”