East band and choir will be performing in the SLEHS Holiday assembly Friday, December 22 in the auditorium to kick off Holiday Break.
Due to an increase in the number of students, this year there will be two separate assemblies. This gives cause to a schedule different from that of a normal assembly.
1st hour 7:20 to 8:05
2nd hour 8:10 to 8:55
3rd hour 9:00 to 9:45
4th hour
Lunch Schedule:
A lunch 9:50 to 10:15
B lunch 10:20 to 10:45
C lunch 10:50 to 11:15
5th hour 11:20 to 1:20
Assembly A: 9th and 10th Graders 11:25 to 12:20
Assembly B: 11th and 12th Graders 12:25 to 1:20
6th hour 1:25 to 2:13
Assistant Principal Linda Bowman explained the assembly will not be performed during sixth hour as normal to avoid students leaving school before the hour.
Many ensembles will perform in the assembly such as the Cougar Chorale, The East Vocal Ensemble, A Capella groups, all of eight band ensembles, and the famed Teacher Act.
Band and choir coordinator Laura Hogan explained that the assembly, much like the concert performed the night before, will follow a collage style, moving from one song to the next with no pausing. She and the directors must work together to figure out where each group is going to be placed at what time and keep the show running smoothly.
Choir Director Darrell Middaugh has been preparing his choir since mid-October after their fall concert. This totals almost seven weeks of practice.
Some pieces to look forward to from the choir include: “It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and, from Mame, the musical, “We Need a Little Christmas.”
Band performances include ensembles such as the flute choir, woodwind quintet, sax quartet, and sax choir (coached by Laura Hogan), the brass quintet and trombone quartet (coached by her daughter, and math teacher, Alyssa Hogan), and the clarinet choir (coached by band teacher Mr. Smith).
Laura Hogan says, “It’s really important for the other students in the school to see what the band and choir kids do.”
“Everybody goes to the football game, everybody knows what football players do, what cheerleaders do, but they need to know, I think, what the musicians do too. Because a lot of kids are very passionate about their music.”
Middaugh says, “I think it builds school spirit, a sense of community, something to look forward to… I love the chance for my students to be able to perform in front of an audience. It makes all the work we do in class have a culminating event. But mostly it’s for school and, you know, Christmas is like the, I think, for most people, it’s the happiest time of year so really, spreading some Christmas cheer.”
New Assistant Principal Mr. Rudolph is very excited for the performance and has heard a lot of good things about the band and choir.
On the importance of assemblies, Rudolph says, “I think it creates a well rounded student. I think that academics are a large piece of high school but I also think there are other aspects that need to be highlighted as well…It’s the extracurriculars that help push, that help keep students involved, that help keep their interest.”
