Grace High School Spring Concert; Buxton awarded Teacher of the Year
Music Teacher of the Year, Beth Buxton, directs the concert choir at last week's spring concert in Grace.
Grace signaled the end of its music season with a wonderful display of talent on the part of its students and staff, and saw its music director recognized for her tireless efforts to grow the program.
Grace’s director of music programs Beth Buxton was awarded the Music Teacher of the Year 2024 plaque near the end of last week’s concert by Foster Garrett, director of the Idaho Music Educators Association. Buxton was recognized by the organization for her impressive work bringing the music program back to force strength in Grace, and that strength was on display at the spring concert that saw performances from the school’s range of bands, as well as its various choirs. Wonderfully framed by the Gem Valley Performing Arts Center, the concert featured a great variety of sights and sounds, which charmed the packed seats of the theatre.
The concert was accompanied by Amy McCurdy, whose consistent talent at the piano set the pace of the evening’s high-caliber numbers.
The 6th grade band, composed of many first time musicians, performed a number of energetic songs, including “When the Saints go Marching,” “Old MacDonald Had a Band,” “Ode to Joy,” “Animal Band,” “Little Indian Dance,” and “Rock Point 5.”
While the Junior and High School bands were setting up, a group of students under the moniker “the Boomwhacker Ensemble” played “Qwerty” with a set of differently pitched hollow sticks. QWERTY is the name for a standard keyboard layout, and the composition was designed to mimic the sounds of typewriter keys in an clever and rhythmic manner.
Afterward, the Junior and High School bands performed a series of songs from a range of styles, including “At the Crossroads,” “An Irish Legend,” and “Arabian Dances.”
During an intermission, a short video was shown which explained how music acts on the brains of its practitioners, making the case that a pursuit of music can be very effective at engaging students on a deep intellectual and cognitive level.
The Show Choir next performed a number of selections from the musical “Newsies,” with solos by Kallie Stoddard, Jack Eddins, Kamryn Mansfield, Parker Yost, Lydia Andersen, Jack Mussler, Alex Olsen, and Tayler Yost. The choreography was done by Makala Clark.
The Junior High Choir also featured a number of soloists: for the song “Away from the roll of the Sea” they were Naomi Crofts, Brittany Hobbs, and Abbi Kendall. For the song “Wade in the Water” the soloists were Cashlee Smith, Jenna Wakefield, Oakleigh Walker, Ruby Bassett, and Josie Fox.
After the awarding of the Music Teacher of the Year to Beth Buxton, the Serendipity Concert Choir performed “Way over in Beulah Lan’,” “Lakeside Lullaby,” and “Cindy.”
Treasure Canyon Calcium provided a $1,200 donation to the band program. A number of grants for the program were written by Cassie Rigby, including one that will subsidize summer instrument repairs.
Maili Murdoch helped print concert programs.
