By Kaylan Kha

Editor in Chief

Imagine being on stage and meeting the expectant eyes of students waiting to be entertained. Smooth acoustics sound from behind and a microphone is set up in front. For members of Gabrielino High School’s Unplugged Club, this scenario is nothing short of a reality.

Unplugged is a student-run club where members are able to express themselves through music. They gather during lunch and after school to play instruments and simply have fun doing what they love—entertaining others through song. Occasionally, they hold lunch performances for the student body.

Members of Unplugged are not all required to perform. Instead, only those who go through an audition process can earn a spot in the line-up.

Two to three weeks before a performance, each person who wants to perform is responsible for preparing a song and performing it in front of the captains, seniors Kate Correnti and David Zacarias, and club advisor Eric Hoenigmann. There is no set number of people that can be in the line-up, but when choosing the performers, the three have to keep in mind that the entire Unplugged performance cannot exceed the lunch period.

The day before each performance, those participating run through a dress rehearsal after school.

Unplugged’s last lunch performance was on Nov. 17. Students from all grade levels were able to share their passion for music with the rest of the school.

The show opened with seniors Kurman Lam and Zacarias singing “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back” by Shawn Mendes.

After a high energy pop tune, things slowed down as Correnti and Zacarias performed an acoustic rendition of “Everything Has Changed” by Taylor Swift, featuring Ed Sheeran.

The ukulele was played by seniors Arianna Hernandez and Elyse Magallanes and sophomore Julia Magallanes in “The Giving Tree” by Coldplay and freshman Bianca Lua in “Almost is Never Enough” by Ariana Grande.

 Junior Melena Lopez’s cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie” left the crowd singing and bouncing along to the beat.

With a soft piano in the background, seniors Jessi Pham and Hanna Siregar brought a new sound to Zayn’s “Pillowtalk.”

 “[Jessi and I] were sick [that day],” Siregar shared. “Our vocals weren’t as good as we wanted them to be, but we still had a lot of fun [up on stage].”

Following with another former One Direction artist, the line-up ended with Lam, Pham, and Siregar performing Niall Horan’s “Too Much to Ask.”

Stay tuned for Unplugged’s next concert during lunch on Feb. 2.