By Sophia Baltasar, Guest Writer
On October 29th, 2020, the Mills Music Department held their first event of the school year: the Groove-A-Thon. Started last year, the Groove-A-Thon was held in the Mills High School cafeteria on the last Friday of October. This year, instead of live performances, students in the music department and faculty members created music videos featuring songs of their choice to showcase in this virtual event.
Planning the virtual concert was a complicated process. Mr. Gregoric and the music student board members collected videos from students and staff over a period of two weeks. The students also created a setlist, or an ordered list of songs, for each music group’s video. Organizing the event was a lot of work, but the music department enjoyed working together to design the event. Music department PR Gabby Handoko (12) stated that although making the program and teasers was time-consuming, the event served as “an outlet to be creative again, so planning those aspects were enjoyable for me.” Overall, creating a virtual Groove-A-Thon was a new and fun opportunity for students and staff to showcase their talent.
The two-hour music event was considered a success with over 230 people attending the event. Attendees were able to “move around” and watch student and faculty videos in four different breakout rooms: Symphonic Band, Orchestra, Jazz Band, and Choir. Videos ranged from animated Star Wars scenes by Stella Baltasar (10), JP Zlatunich (9), and Liam Glass-Hussain (9) to Mr. Wang and his son Colin drumming with chopsticks to “Everlong” by Foo Fighters. Although there were some connectivity issues in the breakout rooms, the event ran smoothly. Viewers recollected their own positive experiences from the event. Choir president Daphne Situ (12) commented, “I was really taken away with all the beautiful voices and videos that students produced on their own. I really liked being able to present all the amazing talent we have in our Mills Choir and see parents, middle school music students, former students, teachers, and more come and celebrate Mills Music.” Choir student David Cortez (12) added that “Singing a song is one thing but making an entire video is a whole other thing. Seeing everyone’s creative juices flowing was so awesome and it portrayed just how diverse of a class we have. Our students have once again showcased their talent and I’m glad we were still able to even with the circumstances given.” The Groove-A-Thon was also the first high school music event for freshmen, and provided underclassmen with an opportunity to shine, with band student Stella Baltasar (10) observing that “the Groove-A-Thon was a great way to introduce the 2020 Mills musicians.”
While distance learning has prevented live music events from happening in the near future, the Mills Music Department is planning various virtual events throughout this year. On December 18th, the music department is planning to hold its Annual Winter Concert. The four music groups will be performing three songs each and the event is planned to be streamed on YouTube. For further information on the plans of the Mills Music Department, you can follow their student-run Instagram account, @mhsmusic_ for updates.
Jemela Manalo (10), “Wonder” by Shawn Mendes
