Christmas Concert In Praise Thanksgiving

Christmas Concert In Praise & Thanksgiving The Orchestra 5M Abby Hon To celebrate the coming of our saviour, Jesus; and in thanksgiving for the blessings received for 70 years, a Christmas Concert was held on 18th December 2022 at the parish of Ss. Peter and Paul in Yuen Long. Some of the music teams of our school, Shung Tak, was invited as the special guests. Our orchestra performed two orchestral pieces, For the first piece, Sleigh Ride, composed by Mozart in 1791, it was performed with a series of repeated musical phrases passing between different instruments before the sleigh bells sounded. The dynamic changes of the sleigh bells made the piece appear as if the sleigh was being ridden in the snow. This heightened the atmosphere of Christmas. For the second piece, Christmas Medley included 10 interesting and famous Christmas carols which included: Joy to the World, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Jingle Bells. This was arranged by our conductor, Ms Chan. This is the first performance outside school since COVID-19 hit and the orchestra gave it their all with the hope that the message of Christmas and celebration can be felt in the music. When the applause broke out, we all knew the performance was a great success and all the hard work was worthwhile! The A cappella Team 5L Abbie Mak The a cappella team., Detonate, performed two Christmas songs, including “Mary Did You Know?” and “That’s Christmas to Me”. For “Mary Did You Know”, the words for this song were written by former Gaither Vocal Band baritone singer, Mark Lowry, whose pastor had asked that he write a Christmas musical for their church. Lowry ended up penning a series of monologues based on Christmas songs including a conversation with Mary about the birth and life of her son, Jesus. And the second song, That’s Christmas to Me, is a song that focuses on the nostalgia of Christmas. Pentatonix’s Kevin Olusola said, “For us, we are gone so much on the road. The only time we get to spend with family is during Christmas, so we wanted to write a song that kind of focuses on that.” Besides, our alumni a cappella team performed the song “Just Carry On”, which is originally by Terence Lam. This song encourages people to persist even under an overwhelmingly tough situation. The new a cappella version was arranged by this group of talented former Shungtakians. Our a cappella teams successfully conveyed the warmth and love of Christmas and the joy of Jesus’s birth through these two songs. It was surely a wonderful blessing that our 2-month practice paid off.