Page 20 - Fall Winter 2023 FINAL FILE FOR WEBSITE USE
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Music Department -
News From The Music Room
By Kevin Mania,
HHS Music Faculty
…Fall musical a huge hit…Band program continues to grow…
Greetings from the music room! The chorus has been working on diction, intonation
It was a rainy summer, but it was wonderful for and finding connections between current music and
everyone to recharge their batteries and gear up traditional choral selections. Mr. Foster is a great
for a new school year. All the music teachers found asset to these kids. There are great things happening
diverse ways to get energized and look for new ways during his rehearsals that are helping the kids get
to connect with the students for the upcoming school good technique and proper vocal pedagogy. It’s great
year. We are looking forward to trying new warmups to hear the students working together and hear their
and introducing new music. The students enjoyed growth as singers. The October concert had some
many outings with their families and different ways to special guests invited to perform with the students.
enjoy their down time. Community members, several were alumni, joined the
chorus to show their appreciation for the program.
As soon as the year started, we had our auditions It was great to see everyone participate and come
for our annual fall musical. This year we performed together. If you are interested in joining them for
“Willy Wonka.” We had over 60 students involved in a future concert, please send Mr. Foster an email at
the production of our musical. A special shout out to nicholas.foster@rsu29.org.
Mrs. Cindy Mooers, our fantastic art teacher for having
her advanced art class work on props. We had over a The modern band program continues to grow.
dozen adults from the community that helped as well. Enrollment has doubled again this year for the second
The musical was not only performed by our students year in a row. We are now over 40 students enrolled
for our community… It takes a community of great in class. Currently we have been able to make seven
people to make an exceptional performance. The bands with just the high school kids. We anticipate
musical was an enormous success, we put on three another 20 students when the middle school
performances this year and the ticket sales were great. extracurricular program starts in December. This
It was so good to see so many familiar faces come back program continues to be predominantly donation and
to visit our school to support our students’ hard work. grant funded. We just received a $1000 grant from
Vital Pathways to get a new digital drum set for one of
The bands have been working hard as well. We always our four rehearsal spaces.
go back to basics when the year starts. We have
been working on understanding syncopation and all We look forward to telling you about our show choirs
the different variations of triplets. All the music that and jazz bands in our next article. Those groups
we performed for our October concert was heavily should start up around the second week of December.
influenced by those rhythmic figures. Our concert was As always, there is no rest in our department.
a celebration of Super Heros. We always try to make Until next time, keep the music alive!
a theme for the concerts if we can. We had a great
attendance at the concert and the students performed Kevin Mania
wonderfully. HMHS Music Department
kevin.mania@rsu29.org
207-538-3860
20 www.houltonalumni.com
