CPS Music Department

At CPS, there is an active and quality music department which features numerous performances every year by different groups in various music styles: classical, rock, jazz, and folk. This page will focus on the various projects the music department undertakes.

Every year there is a concert in November and another in May, in which the classes share with friends and relatives the music they have been working on. These concerts include both instrumental and vocal music in several genres. In addition, there are lunch concerts which feature music performed by the Chamber Music and Beginning Instruments classes. Also, some of the music classes do community service performances at retirement homes or at schools, as well as the annual Freshman Potluck, the Graduation in June, and at the Open House for prospective students.

There is also the biennial Music Tour, which includes singers, instrumentalists, and dancers. For the 2007 Music Tour, we are headed to the Old Time Jazz Festival in Monterrey where we will perform music from the 1930s' and 40s'. In 2005, over 100 CPS students performed at Disneyland. All of our tours include performances at retirement homes, other schools and in 2005 we gave an emotional performance at the Youth Correctional Facility in Norwalk Ca.

A very important part of the music tour experience is Cabaret Night, which is the chief fundraiser for the tour. The students turn the CPS Buttner Auditorium into a night club complete with small tables, decorations and waiters and waitresses. The Jazz Band is in the house and the students become cabaret singers, dancers and comedians.This year's Cabaret Night is set for Friday, February 9.

When there isn't the Music Tour, all the CPS arts departments combine their efforts to produce a musical in the spring. The 2006 musical was a sequal to the Beatles "Yellow Submarine" which was written by our drama teacher Salil Singh with the music arranged by Kurt Patzner and Tina Harrington for the CPS Orchestra and singers.

If you have any questions about the CPS Music Department, please email either Kurt Patzner, Instrumental Music, Susan Swerdlow, Vocal Music or Tina Harrington, Vocal Music.