Winter traditions

With an excellent music program in our local schools, families enjoy many a concert every year. We do as well, and yesterday’s Winter Gala made me stop and ponder.

As the snow-flakes drifted down, the music reached a crescendo and many in the audience found their eyes welling up. It was a fitting finale to the gala performance that included melodious Chamber Singers, Jazz, Wind Ensemble and Philharmonic musicians. It felt like we were in a prestigious theater watching a renowned show, not our local high school’s winter concert! Each performance from the Jazz version of  ‘These are few of my favorite things’, the chorus of  ‘Jesus, what a wonderful child’, the fun choreography on ‘Santa Baby’, to the trumpets, clarinets, trombones, flutes on ‘Jingle Bells’ was top-notch. My being was filled with delight and wonder, watching the handsome young men and pretty young ladies, many familiar faces I have known going as far back as Kindergarten and grade school!

As the academic year progresses, we will turn the calendar to 2019 and winter will give way to spring. There will be college rejections to mull over and acceptances to rejoice about. It will soon be time for the high-school seniors to say goodbye to an old way of life and boldly step into a whole new world. All the high-school activities this year seem bitter-sweet. Sweet in that as “seniors” the teens are at the top of their league, confident and at ease in their roles. Bitter in that childhood is now fading away and adulthood is knocking on the door furiously. Senior year is such a definitive marker in the journey of life!  

Yesterday as I focused on one sweet face enthusiastically playing the trumpet and the whole band joyously performing around her, I wondered who I would look for come next winter!

~Irvinekar