With Ruby Salvosa as artistic director and Minette Padilla as host, children from the first grade and upwards performed in the open-air auditorium to a captivated audience of parents, school staff, and curious passersby. In a shift from the professional instrumental artists featured at Concert at the Park, the Temple Hill recital, entitled "One Great Christmas Concert," had a charming unassuming naturalism to it. Young girls and boys, earnestly bent over their instruments, played with a sincere, if charmingly uncertain, solemnity. Brows furrowed, they broke into the opening song, the Philippine national anthem, with a seriousness uncommon for pre-adolescents.
The musical program charted through well-known Christmas tunes, beginning with the instrumental Jingle Bells medley that was an upbeat tribute to the Yuletide spirit, followed by the traditional Jolly Old St. Nicholas. The Ukrainian folk song Carol of the Bells was contrasted with the joyful harmony of Happy Holidays. The Sugarplum Fairy was the highlight of the instrumental section. Xylophones tinkled to the enchanting sound of the magical ballet, as note after note floated over the audience in a soothing stream of music. Listening to children perform the Sugarplum Fairy was a joy in itself, a completely different experience from the sharply capable version of professionals, wringing a more honest, almost childlike, reaction from listeners.
This is the kind of performance that characterizes Temple Hill’s commitment to realizing their artistic target: An all-student musical group. "Eventually we would like to see teacher-free performances with even piano accompaniments, conducting and directing by the students," says Ruby Salvosa.
The Christmas concert, though only their second in Luneta, is a regular annual affair. An offering to parents and a chance for students to show off their talents, it’s also a time to share blessings. For this concert, Temple Hill invited two charities, Mithing Pangarap from Smokey Mountain and Food for the Hungry from Navotas. "We wanted to share our music with them," states Salvosa. Not only that, the students donated toys, food, money and clothes immediately after the concert to the needy children.
While some of the children in the audience fidgeted through a couple of instrumental numbers, they brightened as soon as they heard the opening notes to Pasko na Sinta Ko. Immediately – even the adults stood up straighter – everyone shifted their attention directly to the kids on stage as they performed the song through a rather unusual musical instrument, the angklung, under the direction of Anna Sofia Gomez. Made of tuned bamboo slides, it creates a rattling sound when shaken. Each student in the angklung ensemble shook his/her instrument, according to the assigned note, to the delight of the audience, old and young. It was charming and, ultimately, the best number of the program, leaving the listeners shaking their heads in wonder as the students rattled their way through the Gary V song.
In a time of frenzied harried rushing, a Christmas show is more necessary than ever as it underscores a forgotten truth – that Christmas is a time of celebration. And nothing says Christmas like a holiday concert. This Yuletide season, Temple Hill's students remind everyone, despite the traffic and everyday stress to "be of good cheer. It’s the most wonderful time of the year."