Joyful and Triumphant

Yesterday marked the end of the 2008 WVHS Prism season. It was the eleventh prism I've attended, the third I've been a part of.

Prism concerts are something...out of this world. I love them so much and they're one of the reasons I'm not excited to have Christmas away from Napauroraville.

So what is Prism? You see, WVHS has one of the strongest music programs in the area. The pinnacle concert of the year brings together the band, orchestra, and choir students in a two-hour concert of streamed music fit for the Holiday season.

Of course, WVHS is a public high school with a music program run by conductors who live for all kinds of music and all kinds of beliefs. So it isn't 100% Christmas music...there's some classical, some Hanukkah, we were originally going to do a Kwanzaa song for Mosaic (trust me, the new one was much better), and there's some folk holiday songs from around the globe. Of course, these non-Christmas songs are never audience favorites, but I bloomin' love Prism so much, I don't really care.

I've been eager to be a part of Prism for years...since the first few concerts I saw, I think it's safe to say. Freshman year, the first thing I did when I tried on my robe for the first time was pumping it into the air for "Jingle Bells". Heh...at least I got to do it once. : I quit curricular choir after freshmen year, and since the freshmen don't preform at Prism, and only curricular kids get the robes, I never had my robe to fist-pump with. And I'm never going to stand in the front of the audience, holding the hands of Varsity kids. I will get that Santa hat, though.

See, for those still reading and confused, Prism is steeped in tradition. The concert itself has been a WVHS tradition for...geez, I don't know how many years. We put on four shows because it is so popular and so well-loved by the community. My personal highlight every year is the Finale, the Creme de la Creme, the pinnacle moment- the Christmas Festival.

This song brings together all the students in Prism and has been with the concert for years. Almost every year, the special effects team adds a little something more, so viewers old and new can feel that rush.

It begins with a swelling timpani, and immediately, audience members know magic is happening. The lighting moves from hyper-focus on the conductor to the stage, filled with talented musicians. In front of you, behind you, and all sides are choir students, robed in green (or donned in Black for the mosaic-only kids like myself). Dotted through the room, students sport Santa hats. These are the seniors...the ones most likely to cry. Unless you're Alaina Hendricks. Then you cry every year. ;)

The first song of the medley is "Joy to the World", and it sets the mood immediately. Smoothly, it moves into "Deck the Halls", and with a minor transition becomes "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen". The smooth song picks up pace into the high, exhilarating "Good King Wenceslas"...the bane of all freshmen, the only one whose words they don't know. Once that song ends, the transition slows for the moving and angelic "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". Then, the cellos solemnly set the stage, mirrored by the literal setting of the stage as the lights dim and the scrim lights up, Christmas lights putting on a faux starlit sky perfect for "Silent Night". The song of heavenly peace ends with the chipper and immediate switch to "Jingle Bells"...fit with snow, real fake snow falling from the catwalk onto the audience. After one verse, everyone takes it down an octave and fist-pumps that "Hey!" we've all been waiting for. Once that ends, the back curtain open wide, revealing a full hidden layer of brass, trumpets flared towards the audience with a beautiful winter scene behind them and a hanging wreath to top it off. The band and orchestra on the stage, combined with the additional brass with the power of a thousand angels pick it for the powerful and truly impressive "O Come All Ye Faithful", fit with impressive "accompaniment" that I can't help but conduct along to. It sweeps into the impressive chorus, powerful music ever-swelling and moving, far past when the choir quits. The cymbal crashes signifying the end are just as amazing as anything, especially as this year they were mirrored with flashes of colored lights. After that final note, the audience rushes in the applause they've been asked to withhold, offering a standing ovation to the thrilled performers. The applause is so much that we always offer an encore of that amazing "O Come All Ye Faithful"...this year, tripped up a bit (on purpose..."tripped up" is just as positive lingo as it is negative) with an extended drum roll between cymbal crashes.

You know Prism's over when the seniors toss their Santa hats into the air...their last Prisms and the end of something much bigger.

There's a reason WVHS passes out limited number of tickets to a concert that we offer four times.
There's a reason seniors cry when they preform their last performance.
There's a reason I cry (just a bit) of gratitude each time "O Come All Ye Faithful" begins.
There's a reason they preform the same finale every year to the same reaction every year.
There's a reason new audiences show up and gasp at the starlight...the snow...and the performances throughout the entire concert.
There's a reason I've wanted to be a part of this show more than any other thing in WVHS.

And until you see for yourself...you'll never know that reason.

Then again, people do walk out of the show muttering about how few Christmas songs there were, how long the rehearsals are, how off certain performances were, and how horrible the traffic to leave is. But for every Grinch has a heart that can grow four times, and I seriously believe that Prism helps tap at that Christmas spirit.

After all, what is Christmas about? Family? What better family to celebrate the gift of music with than the WVHS Music Department family, that gives its hours, nights, and weeks to the advancement of its students?

Giving? What better way to give than through the gift of music? To touch the lives and hearts of those around you and remind them of the power of a song? (There's also donations to be accepted out every door...;P)

Christ? As much as our school censors religion and asks for separation of Church and State...Prism does celebrate the Reason for the Season. What better way to celebrate Him than to sing Hallelujahs and Noels of His miraculous birth and mission...and to share that in the secular environment of schools?

Love? How can you better spread love than through song...both the teaching of and the sharing of? What better way to express your love than to support your students, friends, and children as they do what they love for whom they love? More teachers cried this audience than I've heard of in awhile. :)

Togetherness? The music students are infamous for our stereotypes...the dirty Band Geeks who hate the nerdy Orch Dorks and the elitist Choir Nerds who ignore them all...but for this one concert...for that one song...we all come together and push past all of that to spread that message and that joy of Christmas. What better purpose to come together than for this holiday season with more power than any other time of the year?

I LOVE PRISM. In case you can't tell. And I cherish the opportunity to sing with some of the most talented people I know for the best purpose imaginable...even if I can't wear that green robe I've dreamed about.

I believe in the power of Prism more than I believe in the goodness of Santa Claus.
And geez, you'll be hard-pressed to find a seventeen-year-old who loves Santa more than me.

"O Come All Ye Faithful" can be found anywhere this season...yes, including during Prism.