Head O’Meadow fourth graders shined when performing for students and staff at their Winter Chorus Concert school assembly on Monday, January 13.

As students from the younger grades filed into the cafeteria, the fourth grade students excitedly stood on stage at the front of the room; ready to celebrate winter and perform for the rest of the school.

The chorus concert was conducted by music educator Cynthia Holberg, who said that the concert took months of hard work on everyone’s part to come together. Michael Cooney also played piano throughout the show. Holberg brightly welcomed everyone to the show, and encouraged them to sit back, relax, and give the chorus their full attention. She also brought out student speakers from the chorus throughout the show to introduce each song to the audience with some background information.

The concert officially kicked off with “Northern Lights,” a whimsical song with lyrics dedicated to the aurora borealis, a natural light display that appears as curtains or spirals of flickering colors in the sky. Much like how the lights twinkle in the night sky, the high notes of the piano blended perfectly with the student’s voices as they sung “Northern Lights.”

That song transitioned into “Armed Forces Service Songs,” an arrangement of various service anthems such as “The Army Goes Rolling Along” and “The U.S. Air Force” that honor those who have served the United States. While the backing track abruptly cut out early in the performance, that didn’t stop the chorus from singing without issue. Cooney stepped in on piano to accompany the students in place of the original backing track, with him and the chorus not missing a beat as they finished the arrangement.

The next song, “A New Year Carol,” was a slower, reflective piece that is traditionally sung in New Year celebrations. The gentle and graceful piano melody gave students room to show off their harmonies while they sang about letting in the New Year.

It didn’t take long for the plucky piano of “Un Poquito Cantas” to fill the air, and featured Alexa Luft and Jane Shearin on percussion. Students smiled as they sang in Spanish to the lively tango rhythm, reminiscent of a singing canary.

Holberg noted that the next two pieces, “Autumn Canon” and “Something Told the Wild Geese,” focus on the transition from fall to winter, so the chorus sung them both back-to-back. As noted in the introduction of the song, “Autumn Canon” used text painting, a musical technique where the melody reflects a song’s lyrics. The students’ descending vocals at the start of each verse mirrored the way leaves fall every autumn.

The chorus was accompanied by piano yet again for “Something Told the Wild Geese.” The warm melody and vocals from the chorus matched the sentimental lyrics about saying goodbye to geese as they leave to migrate to warmer climates.

Holberg and the chorus invited everyone to sing along with them for “Walking In a Winter Wonderland.” Audience members joined the chorus in singing the iconic winter classic, with Holberg ringing bells to the beat throughout the piece.

The last song of the show was “Winter’s In the Air,” a playful song about how winter has made everything “nice and icy cold” and caused people to dress up as “warm polar bears.” The students got to show off some choreography for this number, as they swung their arms and blew cold winter air in accordance with the lyrics.

Holberg led the audience in giving the chorus and musicians a big round of applause, with everyone smiling as they returned back to their classrooms.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.