North Shore Country Day School - Mirror Yearbook (Winnetka, IL)

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ORCHESTRA Any Thursday afternoon that you feel like digging into a little jive, just jitterbug over to Walling Hall and sit in on a session of orchestra rehearsal. When the musicians arrive, they begin to tune their various in- struments. After the two pianists have waged a mild battle over the good piano and the loser has seated herself at the small one, they start to play Chopsticks. They are rudely interrupted by one of the cellists ask- ing them to bang him an A. Each of the violinists is playing a scale in a different key, while the flutists are struggling to drown out the clarinets. A certain musician is slap- ping out The Darktown Strutters ' Ball on his cello, and one girl is assembling a large, complicated instrument which turns out to be a bassoon. The trumpeters are getting in a few hot licks, as a gentleman well known to everyone, enters carrying his bass fiddle. At last, when each instrument seems to be in tune, Mr. Duff raises his baton, and the or- chestra is ready for some solid work. This year the orchestra was increased by taking on another violin, another flute, and a second piano. Also an oboe, a bassoon, and a percussion section have proved valuable additions. Besides playing at the Thanksgiving Morning Ex., the orchestra gave its tradi- tional concert in January, repeated its former success at the Francis Parker school, and worked hard on the opera. Playing for the opera was a tough job, because a great deal of the music for both Xingabru and Trial by Jury was played almost at sight. Then too, playing for the opera takes a lot of strict attention to the conductor, plus a certain amount of what you might call intuition. For instance, if one of the actors has a lapse of memory during a performance and skips a few measures, the whole orchestra must skip the same measures too. It deserves a lot of credit for turning in a professional per- formance and for being an all-important part of a successful opera. 22

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CHRISTMAS PLAY This year, for their Christmas Play, the Ninth Grade gave Bethlehem, by Lawrence Hausman, an English poet. The curtains parted on a pastoral scene, with shepherds and their flocks. Then suddenly, the whole sky lit up, and they saw, coining towards them, the angel Gabriel. The shepherds were very much afraid, but the angel calmed them and told them of the stable where the infant Jesus was lying in a manger ; and the shepherds went off to find the stable, bearing gifts. The Angel of the Star, leading the three kings as well as the shepherds, guided them to the stable, above which she stopped and stood watch. The shepherds entered, and humbly presented their gifts. One of the shepherds, a blind man, was made to see again. Then the kings presented their rich gifts, with a humility as great as the shep- herds ' . Mary, full of joy, warmly thanked the kings and shepherds, and then she and Joseph settled down for the night. How- ever, the angel Gabriel woke the pair, and warned them that Herod was about to slay all the infants of Bethlehem ; so Joseph and Mary traveled on with their precious burden, while the protecting angels sang praise to the Holy Family. 24