Marianas High School students practice at their Susupe campus. The Dolphin Concert Band will host a winter concert on the evening of Dec. 15 in the MHS cafeteria.
HANNAH Lim, Dolphin Concert Band vice president, invites the public to the winter concert on Sunday, Dec. 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Marianas High School cafeteria.
Doors open at 6 p.m. Admission is $5 for students and $10 for adults.
Funds raised will support the group’s trip to the forthcoming Tumon Bay Music Festival.
The winter concert is the Dolphin Concert Band’s annual Christmas seasonal performance.
They will play a mix of “happy and joyful” Christmas music as well as arrangements from the Charlie Brown holiday specials and from the movie “Frozen.”
“We hope our performance makes the audience feel a mix of bliss and resonance,” Lim said. “It’s a moment that months of practice have led up to, as the room fills with echoes of our music and joy brought by the holiday season.”
The club’s advisor, classroom teacher Trini Macduff, expressed her pride in her students. She said there is no band teacher at MHS, and that the students run the organization for the “love of music.”
“As a former band student myself, I am so proud that our students want to keep the band program alive even without a music or choral teacher,” she said. “The club’s co-advisor — Jonas Metran — is also a former band student. The love of music and the desire to provide the students with that experience is what I think keeps us going.”
She said the students requested separate intermediate and beginner band groups due to high demand, which has driven the program’s growth.
Many students are just beginning to learn how to read music, while for others, the club provides their first opportunity to play a brass or woodwind instrument.
If they can raise the funds to attend the Tumon Bay Music Festival in Guam, it will be an opportunity for the students to grow further, Macduff said.
The festival “is a chance for students to learn from world renowned conductors and participate in band exchanges that they wouldn’t be able to experience otherwise,” she added. “Students have the opportunity to forge musical ties with our neighbors in Guam that can last them a lifetime. It is a chance to learn continuously, and they can put on a show to display months of hard work. The festival really develops our students.”
