Holiday Program Favorites

The students were so excited about their Christmas program performance on Tuesday!  We took a few minutes at the beginning of each of my classes to talk about what they had learned and what their favorite part of the program was.  I was surprised by the variety of their responses.  The answers were priceless....

*I just like singing because we only get to do this once a year!
*I couldn't stop smiling till the next day!
*ALL OF IT!
*How everybody was smiling and having a good time!
*I loved the loud applause we got!
*I like all the people who came to support us!
*The Rudolph song- I was smiling so much I thought I would scream!
*Masters In This Hall... the music- it was just so cool
*Masters In This Hall... because its old and we learned the history... its kind of antique
*I liked the Rudolph motions- especially when we put the antlers on our head!
*When the Nutcracker first started... it was all crazy fun!  It was so fun to see!
*The flashlights!
*Hearing our fans clap so loud!
*Being in front of all of those people!
*I liked all the fun motions!
*That we got to be on TV!
*EVERYTHING!
*When my Mom cried during the flashlight song!
*The reindeer when he was doing his guitar
*Rudolph- that reindeer was really funny!
*When everybody was clapping after EVERY SINGLE SONG.  It made me feel really special! 
*I liked it when I got to carry the mouse off stage in battle!  It was so fun!
*I liked the flashlights... it was like a light show!
*I liked the Chinese dancers in the Nutcracker!
*When I did my speaking part in the Christmas program because that's the first part I've ever had!
*I liked the Spanish dancers
*The Russian dancers!
*Using the candles for "Light A Candle"
*How we learned the big words in the old songs
*Mrs. Bretz teaching us all of those old songs because otherwise we wouldn't ever know them
*I liked singing and doing all the motions!
*When we were singing "O Come All Ye Faithful"
*When I came out on stage as a reindeer!  It was fun to dance!
*I liked dancing together with my friends
*Using the streamers for "Masters In This Hall" and learning all the old words
*I liked rehearsing for my part
*It was fun going up on stage.  You get to sing in front of a lot of people
*Sunglasses!
*Everybody was smiling and clapping
*Singing "Over the River"
*I liked using the snowflakes
*I just liked doing all the motions and singing ALL TOGETHER at the same time!
*Brown Christmas because it was really funny!
*Light A Candle because it was dark and had the light show
*Masters In This Hall because of all the streamers!
*Seeing people do their special parts
*I liked when the Christmas tree grew bigger during the Nutcracker!
*My favorite part was EVERYTHING! 

Not only did we all have a ton of fun learning our songs and motions, but performing a program of this magnitude has a lot of other benefits.  I have seen confidence go up, shy students step out of their comfort zones, and students take risks who normally wouldn't.  I have seen students who started in October by barely singing and not wanting to participate, to being some of my strongest singers as they got lost in the motions and lyrics.  I've had students come up to me before the program saying how nervous they were and then those same students run to me with beaming smiles proudly exclaiming "I did it!"  Even those students who prefer sports to music learn about the importance of being a team player and part of the choir.  Our performance gives us so many opportunities for learning too!  We learn about concert etiquette, different composers, and a variety of repertoire.  We get a chance to learn about music history and often get to sing text in Olde English or other languages when we learn traditional carols from hundreds of years ago.  We learn the difference between singing a slow, smooth song to singing a fast, upbeat song.  We learn how to sing a song and critique it to take it to the next level.  We learn dynamics (louds/softs) and phrases. We learn about our head voice and chest voice and how to breathe properly when we sing.  But most of all, we learn how it feels to be successful!

Thank you again for all your support for our program!  The program is the culmination of our beginning of the year unit on vocal music.  As January approaches, our focus will shift to our second half of the year focus on instrumental music and a few field trips to live symphony orchestras!  Lots to look forward to!