On Friday, Dec. 6, State High’s Tri-M Honor Society held its annual Christmas fundraiser at the Barnes and Noble bookstore. The fundraiser featured performances from 13 music ensembles, from the well-known Chamber Singers and Treblemakers to the lesser-known harmonica and cello choirs. The atmosphere of the night was festive and cheery with students and audience members alike dressed in holiday-themed clothing.
The night began with performances by Treblemakers and Chamber Singers, both choir ensembles led by Choir Director Erik Clayton. Tri-M president Ayla Marvasti described their performances as some of the most exciting of the night.
“It was really cool to have the chamber choirs perform with Mr. Clayton because they’re really big and it was cool,” she said.
The choirs’ performances were the longest of the night, at around 35 minutes. Typically, each group performed for 10-20 minutes.
For the cello choir, they were able to perform three songs in 10 minutes. “We played ‘Silent Night,’ ‘Carol of the Bells,’ and ‘Jingle Bells Boogie,” senior Hannah Kifer said. “I think ‘Silent Night’ and the ‘Jingle Bells’ one were my favorites because ‘Silent Night’ was pretty and I think it sounds good on the cello. And then the ‘Jingle Bells Boogie’ was interesting, so that was fun to play.”
Other groups performing included clarinet choir, viola ensemble, flute quintet, Seven Swans a Singing, tuba/euphonium choir, trombone choir, flute choir, harmonica choir, trumpet choir, and trombone quintet.
While the night was centered around student performances, the event is an important fundraiser for Tri-M initiatives. At the entrance of the store, members of Tri-M wrapped books purchased throughout the night. Proceeds from those purchases will help fund Tri-M events later in the year, such as travel for competitions.
“[The night] is one of our big events. It’s a fundraiser, so it’s very important for us, and also, it’s just a good opportunity for everybody to get to showcase their independent ensembles,” Marvasti said. “[The fundraiser is] just for our general budget and also for music boosters, which is for the whole school district.”
Tri-M is based on the pillars of performance, service, leadership, and honor. Marvasti shared how those pillars contributed to the event.
“So we have people gift wrapping at the front door, so that’s our service thing. The performance [aspect] is the performances that are obviously happening here. And then the honor aspect is just that we’re kind of putting things out into the community and trying to make people feel festive and happy,” Marvasti said. “Also, since these ensembles are run by the students, it’s really cool because people, like, write their own music and stuff, and so obviously people are very advanced to be able to do this.”
For many of the ensembles, performances were organized by student leaders in the group. Kifer is the leader of the cello choir, which performed for its first time ever at Barnes and Noble. “That was our first performance as cello choir, and it went pretty well,” Kifer said. “It was sort of informal, so it wasn’t like stressful or anything. So I think everyone had fun.”
Like Kifer, junior Piper Curling also helped lead a music ensemble. Along with being vice president of Tri-M, Curling co-runs tuba and euphonium choir. Curling described the organization that went into the night for both Tri-M and tuba and euphonium choir.
“With Tri-M it was a lot of back-and-forth communication with the manager here [at Barnes and Noble] and figuring out what spaces to use, and how to fill the time. We had to do auditions to figure out who was playing,” Curling said. “And we had to organize time, especially with how long everyone was playing so there wasn’t like an hour of silence and also so that we didn’t run out of time for people to do stuff.”
“And then with my instrument choir, it was just a lot of trying to find good Christmas music for them to play. I arranged ‘Carol of the Bells’ and it was a very cool experience, but it was also really hard and took a long time because I was trying to make it for tuba and euphonium and I only play euphonium,” Curling said.
Marvasti was impressed by the involvement of students at the event. In addition to the student leaders showing initiative to lead their ensembles, Marvasti noted how many students are involved in multiple groups.
“It’s very cool to have so many people take the initiative to just, like, make their own ensemble—they like playing and they just wanted to play more,” Marvasti said. “Most groups have like five to ten people in them, so lots of involvement [and] lots of overlap [between groups].”
Kifer shared how the student-led music groups have contributed to building community within larger ensembles.
“I think the instrument choirs are like a good way to like get to know the other cellists at my school because I know [for] marching band especially there’s a big feeling of community, but not really in orchestra…and I think having the instrument choir has helped,” Kifer said.
Curling described the environment of the night as relaxed and believed the night went smoothly.
“I think the night was pretty amazing. I think the instrument groups were really good. I think everyone had a good time,” Curling said. “It was like a relaxed, chill night where we all got to have fun. I really liked whenever [music groups] brought in extra, like, percussion for instrument choirs that did not include percussion. That was my favorite part.”
Kifer also described the environment, emphasizing the cozy, Christmassy atmosphere.
“It was like cozy, I would say, because it was like really warm [at Barnes and Noble], and [everyone played] Christmas music. It was in the children’s section, so [there were] bright colors and it was kind of cramped for space but not in an uncomfortable way,” Kifer said. “So I think it was just cozy.”
Looking to the rest of the year, Tri-M members will be caroling on Dec. 20. In 2025, the club will be hosting an open mic night on Feb. 18 as well as help organizing the Vocal Valentines project.
