Izzy Scogland, Sophomore
This past Saturday, the Marblehead High School a capella groups, Jewel Tones and Luminescence, were given the opportunity to perform at North Reading’s Haunted Playground. While the Haunted Playground happens outside most years, the event was moved indoors due to the bad weather. The a capella groups arrived at the event at approximately 5:45 p.m. They were given time to socialize until 6:45, when they had to start warming up for their performances at 7:20. North Reading did a fantastic job accommodating for the weather, and it was so nice to meet their wonderful directors and students. Their a capella group, Notorious, did a wonderful job!
As a first-year member of Luminescence (Lumi), I have never experienced the Haunted Playground, but the event was still super fun for me. The performance was Luminescence’s and the Jewel Tones’ first actual performance of the year, and both groups did an excellent job. Being able to wear the Lumi uniform (a silver sequined outfit with a black top or bottoms) for the first time with everyone else gave me a unique feeling of community and helped create the feeling of being a team.
First performances have a way of determining the mindset of the group going forward. With how well both groups did, it excited me to see how much we can improve before ICHSA (a state-wide a capella competition in February) and other upcoming events. It raised my confidence in how far we’ll be able to go this year. Make sure to support upcoming a capella events, like Sing Free or Die Hard, on November 21!