Stairway of the Stars: a necessary evil

Each year, SMMUSD’s music programs puts on Stairway of the Stars, a performance across grade levels for band, orchestra and choir. Each performance features an honor group of elementary school musicians, as well as the highest middle school and high school groups. Each year, the process is long and arduous. However, as boring and taxing as it can be for Samo students, it is a good and necessary performance for Samo. The whole point of Stairway of the Stars is to exemplify the exceptional performing arts classes that SMMUSD has to offer. Being one of the best programs in the state, or even country, a culminating performance like this is a perfect opportunity for the district to showcase the fruits of their labor. There is no other single environment where staff and parents can get a taste of the absolute best this district has to offer, in each grade level from fifth grade through 12th. Without this performance, the idea of unity is lost. Most Samo students performing in the concert are against its existence. It takes time out of multiple days after school to practice and perform, and it’s a weird extra performance nobody is really prepared for. It doesn’t seem very convenient for the high schoolers. That’s because it’s not meant for us; it’s for the Elementary Honor Band. In elementary school, the most motivated players get to audition for a special Honor Band that will perform on stage at Stairway with the rest of the top bands from the district. It’s an amazing experience for any fifth grader, and it gives them motivation to keep pushing. The young musicians have the opportunity to watch students not much older than they are perform on the same stage as them. This shows the students what is in store in the music program: an experience that can’t be achieved anywhere else. Stairway of the Stars is boring for the high schoolers. It’s arduous. It takes time that we could be using for homework. But the performance isn’t for us. It’s for the young students who get to aspire to be like us some day, just like many of us did back then. It’s only fair that Samo keeps the cycle going for all the future band and orchestra members in the audience.