Del Mar High School’s winter celebration brought students, teachers, and families together for two nights of live music and celebration on December 10 and 11. The concert featured performances by the Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Concert Choir, Guitar, Theatre, and Dance 1 and 2 classes, marking one of the final performances of the semester.
According to Mr. Burkhead, Del Mar’s Department Chair for Performing Arts and Director of Music, this year has been an important one for the band program. “There’s been a lot of success this year with all of our band programs,” Burkhead said.
Earlier in the season, the Symphonic Band placed first in its class at the Lincoln Band Review, while the marching band earned a “Visual Sweepstakes” award for the first time in school history.
Preparing for the winter concert, however, came with challenges. Burkhead explained that the biggest difficulty was time.
“Our fall season ended on November 15, so we only had about three weeks to prepare for this concert,” Burkhead added.
During that short period, students worked on demanding pieces, including a selection from A Christmas Carol and music from The Nutcracker. “They’re challenging pieces, but the students have really risen to the occasion,” Burkhead said.
Student teacher Sergio Franco-Gonzales worked alongside Burkhead this past semester and has also played a major role in preparing students for the performance. As a student teacher, Franco-Gonzales has helped lead rehearsals, assisted with warmups, music selection, and lesson planning for the Concert Band, Guitar, and Choir classes.
Coming from a choral background, working with a band presented new challenges. “The biggest challenge was earning students’ trust,” Franco-Gonzales said, “especially when someone new is guiding students in such an important time as rehearsals.”
Building that trust took time. “Through rehearsal, conversation, and even laughter, students and I eventually found that connection,” Mr Franco-Gonzales said, “by November, that trust really started to show through their musicianship and the way they were producing their sound.”
Students also noticed the switch throughout the season. Junior Ethan Santiago Molina, a member of the Symphonic Band, said the biggest change compared to last year was the band’s overall improvement.
“It’s just a lot of progression,” Santiago said, “a lot of people moved up from Concert Band [into Symphonic Band], and you can really hear how much stronger the band sounds now.”
Beyond the technical side of the performance, teachers, including Mr. Burkhead and Mr. Franco-Gonzales, emphasized the emotional impact of the concert. Burkhead shared that he hopes the audience experiences both familiarity and surprise, especially through the band’s interpretation of The Nutcracker.
Franco-Gonzales added that they hope the music provides a sense of relief. “My hope is that the audience feels a weight lifted off of them,” they said, “I want them to be able to set aside everything else and just be immersed in the music.”
Looking ahead, the band is preparing for an exciting opportunity later this year. According to Burkhead’s words, in April the group will travel to New York City, where they are scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall, giving students the chance to perform on a nationally recognized stage.
As the semester comes to a close, the winter performance served as a moment for students to showcase their hard work and for the school community to come together through music and community.
