It’s holiday concert time. Tuesday morning, Coco sang at Target. That’s her little head in the back row between the plus sized sweaters (that no one buys because yesterday’s high was 81°) and the flannel pajama pants. Kudos to her teacher. The kids sang like angels. What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love and It’s a Small World After All weren’t the tunes I sang, but they met the criteria for a secular holiday .
After Target, Coco ate school lunch and went back to class. At five, she reported to her future middle school for a mass orchestra rendition of another holiday classic, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She’s an overachiever. She learned Twinkle two years ago. Her classmates, over a hundred of them, started strings in September. Afterward, we fought traffic back to her elementary school’s PTA meeting where she played Twinkle again before repeating the choir set from Target.
By the last venue, the adult audience was restless and rude–cell phones out and openly arguing with spouses and children. The PTA ladies shilled the Holiday Store and guilted those of us reluctant to volunteer. The fundraiser pays for extras like art supplies and sheet music–tangibles that aren’t measured by corporate testing entities.
I was restless too. I unrolled the printed program I’d wadded into a scroll. In fine print the paper read, “This concert meets all national standards for music education.”
CRISPLY SPOKEN 
I am surprised the kids can’t do ANY Christmas songs! My kids are doing 10 Christmas songs, and we’re having a Christmas program. I guess we’re lucky. I am not surprised about the parents, but dang, have some respect for your child’s hard work, right?
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They did sing “Over the River and Through the Woods.” No mention of Christmas in it though.
I wish we could educate the audience too.
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I’ve been to some concerts where the director states up front to shut off cellphones and give respect to the kids. Honestly, we shouldn’t have to teach manners to parents!
I’m trying to think what I’d do if they didn’t let me do Christmas songs. Probably get in trouble!
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An update: Cherry’s middle school choir concert included many Christmas songs. The music choices at Coco’s concert must have been campus or teacher decisions.
Also, the middle school choir director instructed the audience on proper behavior (in a good way.) It worked. The audience was terrific. 🙂
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That’s so good to know! My kids are performing today–we have songs from “Do You Hear What I Hear” to “Run Run Rudolph.” They are hams, I realized yesterday. When they have an audience, they are awesome! Otherwise they’re all slouchy and bored.
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I hope you have a great day!
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