On March 19, 2015, District 228 held the annual District Fine Arts Festival Tinley Park High School.

While the art gallery opened at 5:00 P.M., the performances started at 6:30 P.M., the band led off the concert, followed by the jazz band, the choir, and then closing once more with the band.

The District Choir did an outstanding job with the song “The Pasture” by Randall Stroope; the choir moved the audience to a standing ovation and received many praises of “good job” from the conductors and fellow music teachers.

I walked past an elderly woman who stopped me and said, “You kids really sung beautifully, and it brings me happiness to see our youth doing such great things. You guys sung with so much heart and passion it moved me, and I wanted to thank you all for the great performance.” The District Choir also sang: “He Never Failed Me Yet” by Robert Ray, “Gloria” by Antonio Vivaldi, “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” by Leo Robin and Jule Styne, and “Rollin’ on the Ohio” by Mary Donnelly.

The choir director, Dr. J, is not the type of man to just hear music and listen to it, no, he is the type of man that will feel the music and let the music be one with him and try to sing it from the heart. Dr. J was an energetic man with a willing and kind hand to help anyone that needed or wanted help with the music, and believe me, he was a GREAT help to all of us.

All the performing students from all over the district worked hard from noon to 6:30 P.M. that day drilling and practicing songs over and over and over again and trying our best to perfect the parts of each song.

I would like to give a special thanks to the percussionists and our great pianist for helping us through the day because without them the music would not sound the same. Dr. J told us that, “change is always necessary,” meaning that we need to learn to adapt; we need to be able to absorb new information and apply it in a different way outside of our comfort zones. Even though he was a music Director, he was also a good teacher of life and life lessons.

The District Band performed: “Fanfare and Flourishes” by James Cunrow, “Allegro Barbaro” by Béla Bartók’s, and “Fate of The Gods” by Steven Reineke. It seemed that most of the audience favored the song “Fate of the Gods” because it was a more modern, classically-styled piece based on tales from Nordic mythology.

The band moved everyone with the powerful bursts of music and their sweet mellow tempo. Towards the end of the program, each director honored one or two students from each school performing. Our own Music Director Ms. Mootry from Hillcrest High school was honored because this will be her last year with the Hillcrest Choir because after this school year, she is retiring.

The program overall was a raging success; it was a lot of fun and a great experience to work with new people and have coaching from directors from all over and all the songs were executed great and came out beautifully.

Around the Web:
2015 D228 Fine Arts Festival