By Vivian Rung
Vocal Jazz prepares for their upcoming concert, which will be combined with the 7th and 8th grade chorus from Transit Middle, on March 16th at 7pm in the Williamsville East auditorium. Vocal Jazz is an audition group that performs additional songs at concerts, usually of the jazz variety and is made up of about 24 vocalists. “The style of music we sing is super fun and upbeat,upbeat” member Madison Senay said. “It always seems to be a crowd pleaser.”
Aside from singing entertaining songs, the Transit-East concert is intended to give the middle school students an impressive look into what the choral department at East is like.
President Emma Ward said, “Being a positive role model for younger students and encouraging them to partake in the music opportunities at East” is the best part about this concert. One way this is accomplished is in the last song of the concert when students from every group get on stage and perform a song. Director, Mrs. Reilly said this has been done annually for 30 years, as long as she has taught at East, and may have even been happening since before then.
Being able to perform with high school students alone while watching their talent is one of the main ways that the music department is able to keep enrollment up. The pandemic had a remarkable impact on the number of freshmen involved in the choral department because they were unable to experience the greatness of this concert.
