Colton, CA—On Wednesday evening, at Colton High’s Ken Hubbs Gym, the Marching band and Choir put on a Fall concert for a supportive crowd.
Aron Campbell and Dr. Jessica Cannaday’s Choir students led the event, starting by singing the “Star Spangled Banner.”
A trio of students sang their rendition of “Limon y sal” (lemon and salt), which both Cannaday and student Alejandro Yanez agreed was their favorite song of the night.
Other notable performances of the night included one where Campbell and Cannaday joined to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” and the “Alma Mater.” One audience member cited the band’s execution of “Black Forest” as his favorite because it reminded him of a Disneyland parade.
Although the group was able to pull through and give a good performance, there were a few mishaps in the process of getting the event together.
“We had the location of the Hubbs here unexpectedly,” said Dr. Cannaday. “We had originally set the concert for October 18 in the Whitmer auditorium. Then we had the fires . . . and because of that we had to move it by a week.”
Cannaday also explained the difficulty with determining the location of the concert.
“The Halloween maze was being built on the stage in Whitmer, and so Whitmer was no longer available. The Hubbs was available, but that gym is not the best place to have a concert. It doesn’t have great internet, it doesn’t have the best sound, but we made do with what we had, and we did our best to make do, and I think we did a really good job.”
Cannaday shed a light on her love for giving students a voice and teaching them how to have the right technique to learn and read music. She stated “Every person should find their confidence that they can sing and express themselves. It is a wonderful experience, and everybody should be able to make music, and everybody can, if they just do it and let go.”
Cannaday has been teaching Choir at Colton High School for several years on top of Government and Econ. Campbell, on the other hand, has been teaching for a total of 17 years as a band director but has only been at Colton High School for 2 years.
He has undoubtedly been a great addition to the band, as Ezekiel Izarraras states, “Mr. Campbell has been a great teacher, you can tell he loves what he does. He always shows up for his students.”
Students Mia Masala wanted to give thanks to her teacher Dr. Cannaday, as well, for all that she has done for her students, as she stated “She is a really good teacher, I give her props that she always shows up, she has the energy, she’s not embarrassed.”
Former alumni of Colton High School and Marching band, Ryan Rodriguez, shared his excitement for this new group of students. “As this is the second time I have heard the performance, I will say it has improved a lot better than when I first initially heard it, so I’m glad to see that progress has been made.”
Update Nov. 13, 2024, 10:02 a.m.: Dr. Jessica Cannaday was misquoted regarding the postponement of the event. The quote has been corrected to accurately reflect what was said.
