Malta Middle School Christmas Concert ushers in Holidays

The Malta Middle School's choirs and bands – under the direction of Larry Swingen and Erik Engebretson, respectively – played to a packed house at the Malta High School Auditorium last Tuesday to the delight of the audience and their teachers alike.

"The musicians showed their dedication and the value they place on singing together by dressing professionally and doing their best performance," Mr. Swingen said the day after the show. "The students before the concert were ex-cited; there was a buzz to be seen and heard. This is another sign that the students are excited and want to do their best."

Mr. Engebretson echoed his cohort's thoughts.

"The seventh and eighth grade band is one of the best I have had, they really performed well last night," he said. "Whatever I chose they were up to the task - the sixth grade did a difficult program this year- Joyous Christmas was a challenge and they accomplished it in the past month! The 6th grade band usually struggles to perform this kind of music at the beginning and then once they start getting used to this type of literature their performance goes up exponentially!"

Mr. Swingen said in regards to music selection, his plans generally are to select music that can show a variety of emotional content, difficulty levels and vocal ranges.

"The choir accomplished our part-singing goals developing themselves as independent singers," Mr. Swingen added. "The students that sang solos in the concert took a big risk, and their efforts showed fine results. My favorite aspect to witness is the students taking the words and the notes and making music with them. These young adults are expressive human beings!"

The Malta Middle School choir is essentially the entire student body, grades six through eight. They generally rehearse for at least two months before a concert.

"The students that are in band come into my choir room to join my classes to learn the music, to breathe well, and sing with beautiful vowels," Mr. Swingen added. "We also do ear training and sight singing using solfege and rhythms."

Mr. Engebretson said – when it comes to choosing music, he looks at strengths and weaknesses of each group and added that both groups are quite balanced with strong players in all sections.

"I try to pick appealing music and music that will educate the students," said Mr. Engebretson.

Mr. Swingen thanked the students who volunteered after the concert to reset the stage for the elementary program practice the following day and was thrilled with the audience that turned out.

"Great kids and thanks to the parents," said Mr. Swingen. "What a nice audience that came to support these young musicians. Thanks again to Tulips and Treasures for the corsages! We are so fortunate to have Linda DeVries as our accompanist. Linda plays so well, and is a foundation for our singing."

Mr. Engebretson thanked all the parents and families who stayed for the band's performances.

"The crowd was very nice for the band last night," he said. "Usually we lose many parents and students after choir - they just leave and don't stay for the rest of the program. But it was a great crowd last night."

Next up for the choir and bands are the Middle School Honor Choir and Middle School Festival with Band pieces, solos and small ensembles which will be held in March.