Quite possibly one of the most renowned and intensely anticipated performance nights at SHC, SHC’s instrumental music concert is a one-night-only spectacular with more than 5 months’ worth of effort. Many recognizable pieces were featured such as Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely,” Whiplash’s “Caravan,” and Fantasia’s “Dance of the Hours”; even an original song was performed! It is no wonder the show sold out in a matter of days. But with such a large production with so many moving parts, especially following the winter break, it is stunning a production of this magnitude can be pulled together in a mere week. So what really goes on behind the scenes of Instrumental Music’s tech week?
Mr. Cumberbatch recounts, “Tech week is essential to the success of our concert performance. The rehearsals preceding the concert are where we fix any issues left in the music, as well as working closely with Mr. Mahoney and the tech crew to establish lighting and sound unique to our performance. This year, our concert was 100% sold out! We are now eyeing two performance dates for our next concert because demand is so high!”
Here’s what some of the students had to say about Tech Week:
How would you describe balancing tech week with your academic or sports schedule?
“I think the balance of tech week and academics was pretty simple. I went to all my classes during the day, and then prepared for tech for the show after school.” – William Lofberg ‘27
“I felt it was somewhat hard to balance homework, especially being in both jazz and concert band because I was on stage for a lot of the tech rehearsal. I ended up asking for two extensions on homework assignments, and my teachers were very understanding.” – Luka More ‘26
“It was pretty bad. I ended up staying up past midnight most of the time BUT I also was able to do a lot of my homework in class.” – Sam Meraw ‘25
How would you describe the performance? How did you feel? What was the energy from the audience?
“The performance was very nice, but I think the band needed to be quieter off-stage. I was very excited for my first high school concert.” – Jack Freeman ‘27
“I think the performance went fairly well. I felt that the energy from the audience was positive and that all of the work that was put into rehearsing was definitely evident.” – Ilana Avrutin ‘27
“I thought that performance went pretty well. I felt nervous at first walking on because it was my first time performing in front of that many people, but that wore off. I felt the energy was very shocked at the songs we did, especially because some of them were very ‘in-your-face’.” – William Lofberg ‘27
What was your favorite part of tech week?
“When Lucas and I performed our song for the first time, it was super fun because everyone got to hear what we have been working on for months.” – Mathew Howard ‘26
“Hanging out with friends while waiting to go on stage.” – Audrey Law ‘26
“My favorite part of tech week was the night of the show. When we were all in the band room talking and messing with each other, it felt calming.” – William Lofberg ‘27
How did you feel right before you performed? How did you feel during the performance?
“Right before I performed for jazz band, I felt fairly nervous because I was constantly going over the parts that I had missed before. I was also nervous for jazz band because it is a smaller group and so there is more attention on you individually. I felt very excited to perform in concert band because it is a bigger group. Once I got onstage with jazz band, I calmed down and realized I knew all the parts which made me really enjoy performing.” – Luka More ‘26
“I was a bit nervous but other than that I felt fine. During the performance it was really easy, I just remembered to picture the audience naked.” – Lucas Krum ‘26
If you had a solo, how did you feel performing it? What was the process leading up to it?
“I had a solo with the Sacred HeartBeats with Mr. Rivera. I would like to say that he is amazing. He is EXTREMELY talented and has helped us grow monumentally. Leading up to it, we all practiced a lot. Like a LOT. We did a bunch of run-throughs and it was sometimes difficult to get everything together at the same time or to get everyone focused. When we performed it, I felt very very cool. But seriously, Mr. Rivera has transformed the drum line. Don’t get me wrong, we put in the work and the hours, but he has taught us dozens of different skills I can’t even begin to explain. – Sam Meraw ‘25
“I felt very excited when I was performing my solo. Because my solo was improv, I didn’t need to spend time memorizing; I just needed to find melodies that I liked and practice combining them over a baking track of the song. This practice made it so once I was performing I knew different sections that sounded good so I could make up the solo as I went along and still have it sound good.” – Luka More ‘26
“It felt really rewarding to finally perform my solo in front of such a big audience. Leading up to it, I spent a lot of time listening to professionals perform my piece and rehearsing with my accompanist.” – Brandon Holland ‘25
“It felt good to finally perform it and get it over with, as I was very anxious about it leading up to the solo itself.” – Elliot Hom ‘25
What was it like performing an original piece?
“I felt fine performing it, I just kept thinking in my head that I worked really hard to write this song.” – Lucas Krum ‘26
“It was super fun, the crowd was cheering and I was having so much fun. Our song sounded really good too.” – Mathew Howard ‘26
Overall, both during tech week and out of it, the SHC instrumental music program truly set the scene for an amazing performance filled with immense hard work behind the scenes!
