For 10 years, Greenhill Singers have rehearsed "Wassail," and donned their medieval costumes as they serve food to guests of the annual Madrigal Dinner.

Fine arts faculty have come together to create a night of entertainment, filled with dancing and traditional music.

Parents have draped garland around the recital hall, and transformed the fine arts building into a medieval dining hall, spritzed with twinkle lights and holiday cheer.

Tickets to Madrigal are sold for $20 and include a four-course meal and 60 to 90 minutes
of entertainment.

Madrigal is meant to be a fun way for students, parents, and teachers to get into the holiday spirit whilst showcasing student talent.

"It’s a fun process; the kids look forward to it all year, and it gets them in the mood for the holidays," said Vonda Bowling,
Singers’ director.

Madrigal is ground in tradition. Though the performances change, certain songs do not.

"There isn’t going to be much of a musical difference this year. That’s the beauty of it- keeping that tradition," Ms. Bowling said.

There’s a "Head Table" of Singers every year, which usually consists of the seniors.

If additional strong voices are needed, the seniors choose a date to hold auditions for other members of Singers to tryout for a spot at the Head Table.

The remaining Singers are servers, but everyone gets to sing throughout the evening.

Maintenance and parents work during Thanksgiving break to decorate the fine arts building.

"They [parents] decorate with these huge candles, ribbons and tablecloths, and they drape lit garlands everywhere," Ms. Bowling said. "It’s a beautiful winter wonderland. The point is to get everyone in the mood for the holidays."

For the duration of Madrigal, students and teachers are in full costume while music plays.

Each year, Michael Legacy, Math Department Chair, is in charge of costumes. This year several people are impressed with the outfits.

"I’m in costume too," Mrs. Bowling said. "All the costumes are really pretty."

The dance studio will be transformed into a serving hall, while the recital hall will host the entertainment and dinner prepared by Sage Dining Services.

From soup to salad, pork dishes to lavish desserts, all foods that are served at Madrigal are authentic medieval dishes.

"It [Madrigal] is a big banquet feast," said Head of Fine Arts Michael Manes "First, we bring in the wassail bowl- a type of spiced punch- and then we make a big toast, and serve salad. After the salads, we bring in the boar’s head. And then we serve the main course of the dinner."

Before dessert, the Recital Hall fills with laughter as the Improv Troupe performs a medieval- themed comedy piece they put together themselves.

In the early years of Madrigal Dinner’s existence at Greenhill, Dance Co. ’s performance was much simpler.

"They had a dance portion before I came to Greenhill," said Kelly McCain, Middle School and Upper School dance instructor. "They would do simple things in the hallway. I wanted to make it more advanced choreographically."

The annual rehearsal of the same songs is a tradition looked forward to and cherished by many students in choir.

"You could say that some people think singing the same songs each year is boring," said junior Trenton Seale, a member of Singers."It’s like singing ‘Best Friends’ since first grade. Everyone loves that song. It’s the same thing with Madrigal- we’ve
all known them for years and
we’ve loved them ever since."

Saving Abel came to sing a few acoustic songs and talk about their experience in the music business at Rock Talk on Oct. 23.

Rock Talk was created to educate students on the making and craft of music. It is open to Greenhill seventh-graders and up.

At Rock Talk, lead singer Jared Weeks gave advice to aspiring bands.

"Always do what you can with what you have, you really are the only one that is stopping yourself," Mr. Weeks said. "Our dreams have come true but we don’t have time to realize it until we sit down and talk about it."

In previous years, Greenhill has hosted several notable bands, including: Simple Plan, The Fray, Bowling for Soup, Aranda, Trey Johnson ’87, and Russel Howard ’ 02 .

Rock Talk allows for students to understand how artists are inspired when writing their music. It also shows how many artists try and change people’s lives with their music. Ronnie Raphael, father of eighth grader Natalie Raphael and fourth grader Emilie Raphael, and Brian Donnell, Middle and Upper School Band Director, work together to establish these talks.

"Mr. Raphael helps indie bands get more publicity by putting them on radio shows and also by bringing them to schools like Greenhill to get them more known to teens," said Mr. Donnell.

As part of the band-promoting process, Mr. Raphael contacts Mr. Donnell and lets him know which band is coming to town on their tour so they can set up the Rock Talk.

The name "Saving Abel" has a biblical reference. Lead guitarist Jason Null founded the band, and was inspired after he typed in the story of Cain and Abel into Google and found a line that said, "There is no saving Abel." The two words stuck.

Scott Bartlett, Rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist, said that Jonny Cash, ACDC, and Lynyrd Skynryd are bands that influence their music.

"We are all southern rock guys at heart. Southern rock just destroyed the universe with guitar and that’s something we try to take to heart," he said.

The band wants to write music modeled after other bands that inspire them.

"When we aren’t trying to melt people’s faces with hard guitar rock, we are sitting on the bus with acoustics trying to tell a story," Mr. Bartlett said.

A goal for the band is to write music that successfully
relates to audiences of varying ages and experiences.

According Mr. Weeks, the band feels as though they have a good connection with their listeners and that, even if they don’t, they will always continue to try.

The band members said they feel like they have a great bond with military personel- so much so, that they visit soldiers in the hospital.

"We will visit the hospital and see a 19-year-old without legs sitting there crying, saying how we have no idea what we have done for him when really it is the other way around. The troops inspire us and have done so much for our country," Mr. Weeks said.

"We try and bring out a group that the students will know and are usually in the rock or indie genre and the bands are normally on their way up," Mr. Donnell said. "The mission is an ongoing project bringing touring bands to campus to discuss the craft of music making."

Many students also feel like the Rock Talks are helpful in broadening their music interests by exposing them to different genres of music.

"Rock Talk has influenced my music taste greatly. I now search to find more indie bands and have started to listen to music that I would not have listen to a few years ago," freshman
Lauren Butowsky said.