Marble Falls High School Christmas choir concert combines traditional, modern
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
MARBLE FALLS — Marble Falls High School choir director Bryce Gage is known for challenging his students. But there’s one challenge even he never really took on until this year’s annual Candlelight and Christmas Choir Concert.
“We’re doing a couple of pieces that are sort of a collage of songs,” Gage said. “It’s something I’ve never done before. It’s a little different. It basically incorporates songs you wouldn’t think carry a Christmas meaning, but the way they’re (blended) together, you really hear them in a new way. And it’s amazing.”
Gage said Craig Hella Johnson, the director of Conspirare, really developed the collage. So, Gage and the high school choir program are tapping the musical influence of Johnson for a couple of collage pieces during the Dec. 8 concert.
But that’s just part of the popular show.
“We’ll perform a lot of the traditional pieces such as ‘Oh, Holy Night,’ but then we’ll also have some more upbeat, modern selections,” Gage said. “It’s just a really good selection of music.”
The Candlelight and Christmas Choir Concert has become one of the choir’s most popular events. The performance often starts with the lights dropping down in the high school auditorium and then members of one of the choirs, holding candles, stream in from the back of the auditorium. As they enter, the choir ushers in the Christmas season through their voices.
For people who have never seen a performance by the choirs, it’s a chance to “discover” some of the best singers around. And, the concert is free.
“This is our gift to the community,” Gage said.
The program features six of the school’s choirs. There will be several soloists.
“We’re also bringing in a stringed quartet from UT-Austin,” Gage said.
While the choirs perform several times throughout the year, Gage said the Christmas production and season definitely stands out.
“Christmas is just flat out the best music of the year,” he said. “I could listen to it all year. The Christmas music really reminds us about what’s so special about this time of the year. It’s also a chance to kind of slow down a bit and get out of the hustle and bustle of so much of what goes on as we get ready for Christmas.”
Plus, the students get into the music.
“They love singing the old pieces they remember as they grew up, but they also love the more modern ones,” Gage said. “It’s just a great time to be singing.”
This year, the collage selections have added a new dimension to the concert. Gage explained that, in a collage, the arranger combines a Christmas piece, such as a traditional hymn, with a piece not typically associated with Christmas. He used the example of “Lo, How A Rose,” which combines a traditional Christmas hymn sound and Bette Midler’s “The Rose.”
“‘The Rose’ isn’t religious, but when you split the text and it’s meshed together with a more traditional piece, it makes the Bette Midler piece and words so much more poignant,” Gage said. “And when you hear it in that way, ‘The Rose’ really does have a spiritual sense about it.”
But explaining the collage in words doesn’t give a true sense of how it works. The best way is to hear it performed, and people can do just that at 2 p.m. Dec. 8 in the high school auditorium, 2101 Mustang Drive.
Along with the performance, the choir program is hosting a silent dessert auction. Call (830) 693-4375 for more information.
daniel@thepicayune.com