by Kathryn Odgers
Every year, the music department fills the air with music and performs live at Showcase, demonstrating the best of their abilities and their skills and passions. Each class took the stage with both confidence and skill, performing live at Showcase in front of parents, friends, and community members gathered around and watched them and exemplifying. Students displayed the process of setting up their equipment for their individual class and later their performances, and then the task of putting it away concluding the night in a huge success!
Brett Moglia, the music teacher for Minarets, incorporated four of his classes into Showcase: Sound and Lighting, Singer-Songwriter, Rock Performance, and Showband classes. "It stimulated what you would see at a concert" He began, "Sound got out there first and sets up sound and power, then the headliner sets up and does a soundcheck and they leave and don't come back until the end of the show. Then you start layering each group backward for the show, the last group was Singer-Songwriter, and so we start with Singer-Songwriter and they clear their stuff, then Rock Music Performance goes and clears up their stuff. The headliner is very important so everything goes in front of it like what you would see at a normal concert, so that's what we tried to assimilate". Mr. Moglia felt very proud of the hard work each member put into their songs, including last-minute changes and hard work. "Alison Partin just kills it, I just told her that day she needed to do it and she did. Rock Music Performance is basically kids that are figuring out how to be in a garage band and so they spent a lot of time on it and they were pleased with it. I think it was indicative of a lot of hard work. For Showband we had some changes and some singers couldn't be there because of commitments and so it's next personnel, we have a lot of singers that are getting opportunities to show up here too". He describes the classes a sports team, Showband being the varsity of the department, so if someone's busy or can't go then the next person will take their place. His priority for the class now is to work on their performance and extended performing times from half an hour to two hours at the end of the year.
Alison Partin, a sophomore in Singer-Songwriter class, performed first with her two songs. This was her second year performing at Showcase and noticed an immense change in comparison to last year, saying, "If it had been last year I would've been really nervous but this year it wasn't because I've performed a lot since then. I was like, 'All right I'll do this and it'll be good', because if you have confidence as a freshman then you're really not a freshman" she joked. When asked about getting for Showcase, she mentioned that her practicing didn't really feel like practicing, but rather an everyday occurrence. "I think that's just what music really should be, if you're learning complicated stuff then it will feel like work but it'll be okay because you just really like it". The songs she chose were fun to sing and play, enjoying her performance overall, along with the friends that cheered her on throughout!
Dominic Marino, senior, played as a guitarist during the Rock Music Performance and felt very enthusiastic about their performance. "We haven't done too many shows, we've just started to perform" Dominic stated when talking about the RMP class this year, "It was a bit nervous going into it but I guess that's just with any musician, you're going to perform in front of people and I think we did pretty well". The class is more laid back than other classes such as Showband, allowing the musicians to be more involved with their music and not focused on the technicality of performing. "It's been really cool" Dominic began, "It's been fun to just be able to pick your own songs and do ones that are more challenging too". The members are hoping to be apart of school functions and future events to play in the future as well!
Seniors Savannah Stout and Jayci Coon both performed in the Rock Music Performance and Showband for Showcase, both being apart of the music department over the past few years. Savannah started by saying, "I was not in Rock Music Performance last year, but I would get called out a lot to help and play drums, which is where I actually learned the song Should I Stay or Should I Go, I only had a day's notice on playing it and I remembered it this year because I played with them last year". Savannah is primarily a drummer although she does play the bass, flute, and keyboard, and had the opportunity to sing with RMP alongside Jayci Coon who plays the bass and keyboard. "It felt really good" Savannah began, "Being up there and singing with your friend is absolutely amazing, I don't know if it's the same as playing bass but it's still really exciting like being all those big rock stars". Jayci felt very excited to sing, although they had both performed many times over the years this was her first time doing it with her friend. "Even though I was just a backup and it was terrifying, I liked it! It was a really cool and good experience for me, and it branched me out to possibly do more singing in the future" Jayci said, "This was a great way to start off the year and although it wasn't our first performance, it was definitely our best!".
Analiese Torres, sophomore, was apart of the Showband performance this year and felt really excited about playing! "I think we did pretty good because Mr. Moglia was so happy and cheering us on and so I was really proud of myself and the band!" she exclaimed. Analiese has been passionate about singing for as long as she can remember, and when she saw the Minarets Music department during her orientation she knew exactly where she wanted to be. "I just walked in the music room and I was like 'This is awesome, I'm going to be in this!'. I saw how they were all very passionate about what they did and they were a team, and I wanted to be apart of it. I care about all the work we put time into these songs and showing them off the best we can" she said. Although they had a few minor difficulties, she felt very proud that they were able to push through and did the best they were able to, saying, "In the beginning, it looked like we knew what we were doing, but before the performance, we were like 'You know that song right? Are we doing that? You got the lyrics to that right?', and because Mr. Moglia wasn't there and I was surprised that we got all of it and pretty much perfect." Analiese said.
Showcase was a thrilling success for the music department, and a successful step for the many upcoming events they will be performing. Minarets Showband will be performing at the annual Heart Walk at Tesoro Viejo on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, from 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM. Walk to fight against heart disease and stroke, but also see the group perform live!
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