Huckleberry Hill students showcase their talent at Spring Fine Arts Night

Published in the April 25, 2018 edition

By JILLIAN STRING

LYNNFIELD — Huckleberry Hill School third and fourth grade students showcased their musical and artistic talents at the Spring Fine Arts Night on April 12.

Art Specialist Kathleen Lorenzo and Music Specialist Kerrie Fraser have been working with the students on bringing their creativity to the next level in preparation for the event.

In addition to having student artwork displayed throughout the hallways, Lorenzo transformed the Health and Wellness Center into an art gallery.

“I wanted to give (the students) as close to a real gallery experience as possible,” said Lorenzo.

THIRD GRADERS Hannah Doherty (left) and Melina Haggis show off their artistic talents at Huckleberry Hill School’s Spring Fine Arts Night. (Jillian String Photo)

Lorenzo brought in an outside vendor to mat and frame a completed piece for each third and fourth grade student. The frames hung from gallery-style racks and were labeled with student names and classes. These original masterpieces were available for purchase as patrons wandered the gallery at their leisure.

For the musical portion of the evening, family and friends gathered in the all-purpose room for what Fraser referred to as a “feast for the ears.”

When asked how the Spring Fine Arts Night performances differed from the Winter Fine Arts Night performances, Fraser replied, “The music is more complicated. The third grade students are performing a two-part harmony that I wouldn’t attempt with the K-2 students, and the fourth grade performance is all instrumental.”

The third graders began their performance with a unique rendition of the Irving Berlin classic “God Bless America.” The third grade sang the number once. On the second time around, the third graders were joined by fourth graders Ava Brecken-Cruz, Chloe Cieslewicz, Dino Gesamondo, Lila Martins, Dylan Nguyen, Jerusha Robins, and Joseph Wozniak playing the melody on recorders, while they performed the number using American Sign Language.

Third graders also performed a mashup of Irving Berlin’s “This Is a Great Country” and “This Is My Country” by Don Raye and Al Jacobs, featuring speakers Inaayah Qazafi, Madeline Ladd, Ryan Sjoberg and Evan Gately.

They concluded their show with “Rhythms of One World,” featuring speakers Zachary Unger and Emma Wagon; Mia Daley, Laila Karis, Devon Neenan, and Shane MacEachern on drums; and Ava Damiani, Nicholas Marini, Kate Shrewsbury and Hayden Valiton on claves.

The fourth grade recorder ensembles transported the audience around the globe with their instrumental performances.

“It is remarkable what (the students) have done on the recorder this year,” Fraser told the audience.

The first stop on the international music tour was with Heather McLeod’s class in Germany. The group performed “German Dance” with Mohammed Ayari, Chloe Cieslewicz, Ereeny Georges, Alexandra Kent, Sonia Kumar, Lila Martins, Jerusha Robins, Nicole Solomon, Matthew Tracy, and Ian Wagon on recorders; Aidan Bird, Patrick Brown, Zakaria Elhallabi, Christian Grasso, Sophie Kennison, Emrys Klee, Mohammed Mohammed, Callie Robbins, and Olivia Kelter on hand bells; and Victoria Clancy, Grace Elliott, David Glynn, and Audrey Janielis on xylophones/metallophones.

Next, the audience traveled to England for a performance of “Sweet Tooth” by Debra Tracy’s class. The performers included Mike Celata, Ava Brecken-Cruz, Valentina Ingianni, Nicollette O’Neill, CJ Patermo, Aditya Shrivastava, Tobin Ventolieri, Joseph Wozniak, and Abigail Zannella on recorders; Dino Gesamondo, Nicholas Kelter, Emrys Klee, Aislin McCormack, Alexandra Schmidt, and Isabella Sykes on xylophones; Taj Gaafer and Shay-Lynn Moore on claves; and Faye Allen, Daniel Lemieux, and Estella Steedman on lollipop drums.

Japan was the next stop on the tour, where Stacy Sweeney’s class performed “Fireflies” with Fiona Asaad, Jacob Book, Christian Coleman, Octavio DeOliveira, Cara Manfredonia, Rocco Scenna, April Sun, and Nathan Zalvan on recorders; Zachary Evangelista on the gong; Gabriel Fredette, Gia Gagnon, Cole Klee, and Jenna Supino on log drums; Elisabeth Megaloudis, Grace Pena, and Kayla Smyrnios on xylophones, and Christopher Gildea, Christina Haggis, Ellie Phelps and Juaki Powell Jr. on metallophones.

The tour ended in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with “Before Dinner,” performed by Katherine Bider’s class. Recorder performers included Adeayo Adetule, Colin Billings, Celishanex Diaz Santos, Giuliana Fusco, Benjamin Gazit, Meredith Hughes, Olivia Kelter, Nicholas Lu, Dylan Nguyen and Callie Robbins. Aidan Chin, Erin Golden, Marianna Ingianni, Kamden Mauser, and and Kaidan Stefo played xylophones/metallophones. Lily Alves played the djembe, while Siri Tudi played the agogo bells, Alizia Hughes played the calabash, and Jason Nguyen played the kola nut shaker.

The fourth grade ended their performance with “A Salute to the Armed Forces,” featuring speakers Colin Billings, Alexandra Kent, Rocco Scenna, Kayla Smyrnios, and Nicole Solomon.