March is a crazy time for college basketball players, but it’s also an extremely chaotic time for the hundreds of students in the music department.

MESH concert celebrates music mentoring

Music Education with Saratoga High (MESH) was scheduled to hold its fifth annual benefit concert, “The Magic of Music,” on March 17. MESH, a music mentoring program in which high school students assist elementary and middle school musicians, is led by seniors Jennifer Veis and Danny Gao for orchestral instruments and seniors Alice He and Aakash Thumaty for band instruments.

“The best part of tutoring the [kids] is not only watching them grow as musicians, but also learning more about yourself as a musician,” said He, who tutored two seventh graders on the clarinet. “Watching them master a considerably hard part in the music makes you feel really proud of what you and they have accomplished.”

Winter Guard heads to Vegas

Thirty-one Winter Guard members, who will leave on March 18 to Las Vegas for their second-to-last competition, the Winter Guard International (WGI) Vegas Regionals, will return on March 20. This is the Guard’s first time in Vegas for Regionals; in previous years, the event was held in Fresno.

“Everyone feels pretty comfortable with the show and we are peaking at the right time, so [we’ll be] at the top of our game,” said sophomore Austin Shi, who is part of the sabre line. “Being able to perform in the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada [will be] an exciting and rare experience.”

Chamber Choir performs at invitational

Chamber Choir performed at the San Jose State University Choral Invitational on March 4, singing “Lift Thine Eyes” by Mendelssohn and “Makedonska Humoreska,” a Slavic folk song by Todor Skalovski. Los Gatos, Gilroy, Albany, Christopher, Moreau Catholic and Napa choirs also participated at the meeting.

“This is our second time going, and I think we did a lot better this time because we knew what to expect from the other schools,” junior Sarah Jin said.

Upcoming CMEA competitions

On March 18-19, the band and orchestra managers will be hosting the California Music Education Association (CMEA) competition. Symphonic Wind Ensemble (SWE) and Saratoga Strings Orchestra (SSO) will also be traveling to Sonoma State University on March 23 for the fourth annual Sonoma Invitational Wind Band and Orchestra Festival. Twenty-four high school orchestras and wind ensembles will be performing, along with a performance by the SSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble.