The music department, led by music and choral director Kyoko Yamamoto, hosted its 100th annual winter concert on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 6.
The four ensembles — jazz, wind, concert band and choir — demonstrated what a true high school music unit can sound like: flawless playing and caroling to thunderous applause. But this would not have happened without the combined effort of Yamamoto and her students, who dedicated hours to practice for the event while simultaneously preparing for the Little Big Game performance and other home football games.
The choir opened the concert with performances of “Time After Time,” “Caribbean Blue” and “September,” featuring multiple solos plus the jazz ensemble in the background.
“It was relatively smooth since we’ve really been working on these pieces for a couple of months now,” junior and chorister Nico Bennett said. “I had a solo at every choir concert since I joined, but I had my first improvised solo, a scat solo, and there was a little bit of nerves there, but overall it was more fun than stressful.”
Following that, the jazz ensemble played fan favorites, including “Joshua,” “Spain” and “Tank!,” showcasing their versatility after months of focusing on pep band performances for football.
“As a department, we’ve played everywhere and done a lot of pep band stuff, but showing this other side of us is really important because it gives the audience more perspective of who we are as musicians,” senior drum major and jazz student Ryan Dokoza said.
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The concert choir opens the winter concert with smiles and melodies as their carols fill the auditorium.
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Music and choral director Yamamoto gives a shining smile as she greets her audience and prepares to begin the centennial winter concert.
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“I think choir is viewed as a free elective sometimes, so freshmen often take it for one year and never come back,” Bennett said. “But this specific group of freshmen seem a lot more devoted to the class than past years I’ve seen. So I think we have good leadership people on their way up.”
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Outside the auditorium, parents flooded the Music Boosters table to buy roses, snacks, and baked goods in support of the school’s music department.
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Underneath the stage’s bright lights, the jazz band plays with the holiday spirit as they near the end of their set.
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Students stand in trios and quartets as they sing “Caribbean Blue,” a piece that was mastered through their hard work during the fall semester.
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“Concerts are really fun for the class, as it’s our final so there’s a lot of hype moving up to it,” Bennett said. “[We] become a family pretty early, and it’s a pretty intimate class.”
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Sophomore Jaslene Lai, who recently was selected for the All-State Ensemble, plays her piano solo on the night of the Winter Concert.
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“I hope that the younger audience [of our concert] that maybe haven’t started playing an instrument were inspired to pick up an instrument and seek out a music class,” Shi said.
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Not only are the students the stars of the show, but the school’s teachers as well, including Mr. Bennett: a clarinetist who works just as hard as the students to prepare and shine on stage.
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“[The winter concert] is our really big showcase of what we worked on in the fall semester,” Points said. “It highlights what we musicians are good at because in marching band, we only have one band. But in the winter concert and formal performances, there are four different groups, so it highlights what each musician brings to the band.”
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“[The winter concert] is our really big showcase of what we worked on in the fall semester,” Points said. “It highlights what we musicians are good at because in marching band, we only have one band. But in the winter concert and formal performances, there are four different groups, so it highlights what each musician brings to the band.”
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Junior William Kwok follows the notes of his sheet music as he guides his fingers across the valves of his instrument.
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To kick it up a notch, the concert band performed lyrical soundtracks from award-winning films “Home Alone,” “How to Train Your Dragon” plus a lyrical composition of the “Marvel Studios Fanfare” as heard from the intros of all Marvel movies.
“For woodwinds, we had many fast parts that had to be played with weird fingerings that didn’t flow well with the rest of the piece,” said sophomore and clarinetist Emma Shi. “We had to play notes that we aren’t generally used to playing because it’s not seen often.”
To conclude the performance, the wind ensemble played music from “Frozen”’s Academy Award-winning soundtrack and played holiday hits such as “Sleigh Ride” and “The Nutcracker Suite.”
“Wind ensemble is definitely full of people that have the motivation and drive to succeed and do really well,” junior trumpeter Eleanor Points said. “We all worked together as a team, tried new things, and overall just had fun with it. And that’s what made it sound really good.”
After performing in his first winter concert, freshman Ben Sakal expressed a deep appreciation for the consistency of the band community despite the transition from middle school to high school.
“It’s good to be able to be a part of something so big that it’s bigger than yourself,” Sakal said. “Being able to come together and make music in the band is a big deal because alone, we [would be] so much less than [what we could be].”
But the festivities and music could not have been possible without the music director herself. With four sections to prepare and coordinate, Yamamoto is the driving force behind the music department: an at-times strict and rigorous teacher, but one who students see as a second mother, lovingly referring to her as “Mama-Moto.”
“What [Yamamoto] does see is the musician part of us and pushes us to be our absolute best version of ourselves,” Shi said. “She devotes so much of her energy and time to be there for every student, even if that student doesn’t reciprocate those feelings back. And I think that’s a really big part of who she is and how we’re able to collectively work together to make a cohesive concert.”
For Yamamoto, these chances to perform with the sole spotlight on the music department are especially important for Burlingame’s program.
“This is the opportunity for my students to show they have been studying, as it’s a curriculum they signed up to take,” Yamamoto said. “This is also crucial for me to speak to the parents and show why I need support from Music Boosters and the school. It’s my way of saying, ‘Okay, this is what we are producing, therefore, could you please support us?”
