On December 15, 2022, Beasley students kicked off the holiday season full of cheer and joyfulness with their concert, Winter’s in the Air. Directed by Lower School Music Teacher Dr. Katy Nichols, this performance is one that parents, guardians, faculty, staff, and siblings alike look forward to every year.
With students dressed for the occasion, the program began with a song with the same title as the concert. Students wore matching scarves and Junior Kindergarten through fourth-graders sang in two-part harmony about the excitement of the onset of winter.
Beasley students then continued on, singing seasonal favorites such as Over the River and Through the Woods and Marshmallow World along with songs representative of a variety of winter holidays including Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. Across grade levels, students also recited poetry between each of the songs. The final songs of the program were accompanied by a Middle School string and piano ensemble—Grace Maher ’27 on violin, Nolan Ma ’28 on cello, and Emmaus Tzeng ’28 on piano—led by Dr. Jo Nardolillo, JK-12 Arts Department Chair and String Orchestra Instructor, and enhanced by student-scaffolded indoor snowfall.
The program ended with Circle the Earth (with Peace), affectionately known as “The Peace Song.” The Peace Song is a special MICDS Lower School tradition that wishes for hope the whole world over and celebrates the heritage languages of the students of Beasley second graders. Students sing about the word peace and then repeat the same lyrics with the word for peace translated into different languages. “This finale song was something that we wanted to keep in place since it is a long-standing tradition of the Lower School winter program,” explained Dr. Nichols. To top off the special finish, Head of School Jay Rainey shared his gift of playing piano by accompanying the students in this final song. “What a special gift to have Mr. Rainey perform with our Lower School students!” Nichols said.
In preparation for the concert, Beasley students worked together to arrange and choreograph the Orff barred instrument pieces for the program. For Winter!, Beasley fourth-grade musicians wrote lyrics for the verses. They brainstormed their favorite aspects of the winter season and then decided that there would be two verses, one to focus on the holidays and joy of the winter season and one to focus on playing in the snow. Students who chose to include movement created choreography for the verses. They were excited to perform a dance line with sparkly presents along with a choreographed snowball fight on stage. Students who played the instruments made arrangement decisions such as the introduction to the song, interludes, and the coda, and specified that they wanted to end the song in a canon. “It was exciting to see the results of their hard work in performance!” said Dr. Nichols.
First, second, and third-grade Beasley students made musical decisions in their performance pieces as well. They specified instrumentation choices, decided on the musical arrangement of several of the pieces, and created the majority of the motions and choreography.
The winter program also highlighted several School-wide collaborations that MICDS is fortunate to foster as a JK-12 school. Beasley students anticipated singing with the beautiful accompaniment of Dr. Jo Nardolillo on the viola, several Middle School strings students, and a Middle School pianist. First and third-grade students worked together on a partner song celebrating Hanukkah, Shalom. “There are several first and third-grade siblings, so it was lovely to see and hear them perform together,” shared Dr. Nichols. “First and third graders could also not wait to hear Dr. Nardolillo in our rehearsal and performance. They learned about the viola in music class, and the children’s anticipation built as they knew that they were preparing and would have a professional violist accompany them. How fortunate we all were to have a professional violist for our rehearsal and performance!”
Our third and fourth-grade Beasley Chorus students sang in three parts on the Christmas Canon. Students practiced their individual parts in choir class. Dr. Nichols said, “It takes musical independence, good listening skills, and an underlying unified sense of pulse for students to sing multiple parts at the same time, and our students were up for the challenge.” The Trans-Siberian Orchestra piece used Pachelbel’s Canon as an accompaniment. “I asked Dr. Nardolillo and some of her orchestra students to play Pachelbel’s Canon for our performance. She said that they would love to perform with us. Then, she scored out the arrangement for the canon and taught some of our MICDS Middle School orchestra students the parts. What a fabulous collaboration for our Beasley Chorus students and a wonderful performance opportunity for the Middle School orchestra students.”
Another collaboration included Upper School design students, under the direction of Patrick Huber, Upper School Fine & Performing Arts Teacher, creating several paper program designs. “Mr. Huber invited me as a client to his design class,” Dr. Nichols said. “I described the aesthetic that we wanted for our winter program design and gave them the program information. Each of the students created a design of their own. Then, our fourth-grade students voted on the final two winning designs that were printed for the performance. They were created by James Morey ’25 and Jack Jerlecki ’24.”
To magically “let it snow” during the show, Seldom Scene, the Upper School theater design team, under the direction of Huber and Brian Purlee, Upper School Theater Technical Director, Maker and Robotics Coordinator, and Science Teacher, designed and created a snow mechanism for Mary Eliot Chapel. Purlee developed the plan and students implemented his design. The Seldom Scene crew assembled and hung the snow apparatus in Mary Eliot Chapel under the guidance of Huber. Then, they loaded it with snow. The mechanism worked on a pulley system, where when the mechanism was pulled, it shifted back and forth enabling the snowflakes to fall through the apparatus. “This created a very special snow effect for our song, Christmas Canon. The delight on the students’ faces was evident as it began to snow inside on the penultimate song of the program,” said Dr. Nichols.
The performance would not have been complete without the help of sound and lighting volunteers from the Upper School, Ash Aranha ’23 and Raina Compton ’23. Aranha also helped build the snow mechanism and then ran the pulley for the program.
Overall, Dr. Nichols said, “It was such fun to see the children’s delight and wonder of the winter season conveyed through their musicality and creativity.” Whether you attended the performance or watched the recording above, we hope the concerts brought a smile to your face this winter season! Great job, Beasley students!