Holiday cheer, a treat to NK ears

Published 4:00 pm Saturday, December 9, 2006

The holly jolly electricity of the season will be brightening area schools in song this coming week. A plethora of red and green, music ringing and children singing are all slated to elicit the season’s greetings.

Though the Poulsbo Junior High choir and band and the North Kitsap High School band performances have past, there is still a myriad of opportunities to cozy up to the talents of North Kitsap School District’s students. Groups from Kingston Junior High School and Gordon Elementary will kick things off with back-to-back performances Dec. 11.

Starting at 6 p.m. at KJH, the Gordon choir and band — under the direction of Sarah Thomas and Jeff Haag respectively — will present their Winter Holiday Music Fest.

“We’re doing a Hanukkah song and we’ll be singing ‘Silent Night’ in Hawaiian,” Thomas said of her near-70-member choir. “Creating a beautiful unison sound is really important, but these kids are really understanding harmony, so we do a lot of part singing.”

Starting at 7:15 p.m., following Gordon’s set, the KJH band corps — also cued by Haag’s baton — will share the stage with the powerful vocals of the choir — led by Toby Kemper — and festive visuals created by the school’s art and horticulture students.

Beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Pearson Elementary School band and choir concert will deck their stage with a holiday spirit and style all their own.

The high school’s Northern Lights choir will be the busiest of the NKSD’s performing elves as they spread vocal cheer at their annual winter concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 at the NKHS auditorium.

Then, from 3-4 p.m. Dec. 15, the Northern Lights will be caroling on the bay as they visit the Liberty Shores community to perform for Poulsbo’s elders.

The Lights will once again join the NKHS jazz and chamber choirs to wrap up this year’s NKSD holiday performances from 5-7 p.m. Dec. 16 at Pacific Place in Seattle.

“I think it’s exciting to see kids performing and enjoying the music,” Thomas said of the week’s festivities. “Sometimes they tell me, ‘Ms. Thomas, I’m nervous,’ and I just have to point out to them that they are one in 70 kids … we are in this together, sharing what we do.”