A Magical Madcap Musical Christmas

Brace yourselves...lots of photos and videos ahead!!

What is the Christmas season without a little music? Okay...a lot of music? And I'm not just talking about listening to the Christmas mix on my Pandora station. (Although I also do that. A LOT.) I'm talking about the music whose performance you participate in, not just passively listen to.

When you know how to play a musical instrument, you have to figure that skill into your holiday time-management calculations. Because chances are, someone or another will need your assistance at some point during the holiday season...or you will be attending a holiday concert/performance of some kind...or you will be performing at a holiday concert of some kind. It's an inescapable part of having musical know-how. During November and December, you are a marked man (or woman). And of course, if you are like me and actually teach music...well, time to add a few more items to your checklist.

Our family now has three people in it who know how to play at least one musical instrument (and one overachiever who is currently learning two musical instruments!). On top of that, our kids attend a school that is heavily into the performing arts. So you could say we've got our hands full. We were sure busy this December.

In one week, we attended several performances...or at least, we tried to attend several. I missed out on the first performance of the week (Monday, December 14th) due to a piano lesson that ran late. It was put on by Lorelai's hip-hop dance class. Lorelai decided to take this weekly dance class in the fall, and this was to be the final class of the year. I felt terrible for missing out! Thankfully a kind friend caught the performance; the kids did a cute little dance to "Happy Universal Holiday":

Lorelai isn't as excited about dancing as her sisters, but I think hip-hop is a good fit for her sensibilities. She had fun with the 8-to10-year-old group this fall; Ms. Cindy, the teacher, told me she'd be welcome in the "big kids" class (11 and up) if she so desires. We'll see how it works out!

Just two days later, on December 16th, Lorelai was back in action; this time, at the holiday concert for the Great Expectations Academy jazz band. Last Christmas, Lorelai was in the beginning band; this year, she's moved up to advanced band and is having lots more fun. It was great to see her up there sitting with the bigger band and contributing to some awesome tunes.

The concert was a little long, so sadly I didn't record any of it. The highlights included some jazzy renditions of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch." But the song that made me happiest that night was called "Blue Q." It's a song Lorelai complained about a lot when she was first learning it, but over time she came to love it. And the night of the concert, she surprised Nathan and I by performing a solo during this song!

The little stinker hadn't told anyone she was doing a solo except Celeste (whom she told just before the concert began). As a result, this hastily snapped photograph is all the evidence I have of her solo. But it was a terrific surprise to have! We were all very proud of her; I could definitely hear improvement in her playing from one Christmas concert to the next. I can't wait to hear her progress next Christmas; I'm glad she's having fun learning the trombone and making friends in jazz band!

Friday, December 18th marked the last school day for 2015. It also meant the morning was filled with a long Christmas concert put on at the school. The students were kept very busy; each class had not only a song to sing (courtesy of music class), but a dance to perform as well (courtesy of the school's new dance class!). And that doesn't even count the recorder performance the older grades did, as part of their music class experience!

I didn't get the recorder performance on tape; they played "Jingle Bells," "Jolly Old St. Nicholas," and "Ode To Joy." As you can imagine, it was shrill and not in perfect rhythm (because lots of recorders). But at least it was an enthusiastic performance! Recorders are a good way for students to get interested in other musical instruments in the future; they're kind of a "gateway instrument," if you will. So while they aren't the most pleasant instrument to listen to, I was still happy the kids got a chance to perform on them this year.

There were a lot of performances to sit through, but the kids all did really well. Kudos to the music teachers, dance teachers, and homeroom teachers for having their students so well prepared! Here are all the numbers I was able to get on tape:

Aurora's class started out by singing a medley of songs from the Disney movie Frozen. It was very adorable.

The kindergartners' dance number transformed them from Disney characters into "Whos down in Whoville," as they danced to music from the end of the movie The Grinch:

Celeste's second-grade class sang the old classic "Marshmallow World."

Their dance was very cute: they sang "I Ain't Gettin' Nuttin' For Christmas!"

Lorelai's fifth-grade class performed a pretty lengthy rendition of Dr. Seuss' "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," complete with narrators. Most of the class stood in the background and sang songs, and did a simple dance at the end of the program. The sound quality wasn't super, but here are the videos if you want to see Lorelai strutting her stuff in the background (she's the one with the bowler hat and the knee-high socks):

The fifth-graders also danced to a hip-hop version of "Here Comes Santa Claus" which was...interesting.

And these were just the musical numbers my kids were involved in! There were a lot of other songs and dances, and they were all pretty impressive. It was one of the better Christmas programs the school has put together, in my opinion. I was proud of everyone for their hard work.

Aurora's kindergarten class had a small "Christmas breakfast" to celebrate the end of the semester. The parents were invited as well, and there was a small gift exchange. It was a good way to finish off the year.

Aurora had a very hard time saying goodbye to her teacher, Ms. Avelar. She has come to love her dearly, and she cried bitterly at the thought of not going to school the following week. I'm happy she loves school so much! And I suspect that all the free time she'll experience over the holiday break will soon wipe away her sadness.

But although school was done, our musical responsibilities weren't! The very next day, December 19th, we attended another recital...the recital for my own piano students!

This was the first Christmas recital I've held at the Green Valley library. It was a little sad; for the last several years our recital has been held in the home of our former bishop, Dan Bezzant. Sadly, the Bezzants moved to Utah in the fall, so we had to settle for using the library. It's roomy and comfortable, but it's not nearly as festive as the Bezzant's home was. In addition to the new venue, we had three kids drop out of the recital due to last-minute holiday traveling. So the recital was more sparsely attended than usual.

My family was also distracted because our car was making hideous noises on the way to the library, we ended up being several minutes late while checking out said hideous noises (as it turned out, our rear brake pads were worn through and we'd have to replace them a few days later. Boo!) So, you could say none of us Barretts were in the greatest frame of mind heading into this recital. All was not lost, though...the kids mostly held it together and performed their songs admirably, with only a few small mistakes. Here are all the songs Celeste and Lorelai performed!

I was still very proud of both girls for learning newer, more challenging songs for the recital, and overall I think they did a wonderful job. We had a few snacks afterward, then went home to crash.

Even after all this, I still had Sunday, December 20th (aka The Sunday Before Christmas) to prepare for. Traditionally, our ward does its heavily musical Christmas sacrament program on this Sunday every year. Since I am usually in town for Christmas, I am usually doing something musical on this day, and this year was no exception. Even though I was released as ward choir director earlier this year, I love to sing Christmas songs, so I kept on coming to choir and preparing to sing in the Christmas program. To my happy surprise, Celeste decided to join me at ward choir during the holiday season! Even though she is a little on the young side for ward choir, she has always been my most "sing-songy" child, so I am happy to give her additional opportunities to sing.

But as so often happens, I ended up playing piano that Sunday as well. One of the choir songs proved a little difficult for the choir accompanist, who asked if I could play it in her place. I was happy to take on that challenge, since I had a month or more to prepare (not to mention, our choir pianist has a lovely voice, and it was great to hear her use that voice in service of the choir for even one song). It ended up being a more challenging song than I was ready for (it was an arrangement of "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day," with a completely new melody), but I was able to stumble through it without too many errors.

In a strange twist, I also ended up playing an arrangement of "O Holy Night" in another ward on that same Sunday! A friend from that ward called me on Saturday morning, saying their teenage daughter had been asked to sing the song but had been unable to find an accompanist (with only a week's notice, I was hardly surprised; that is not nearly enough time for most piano players to get comfortable with a brand-new song). I agreed (hesitantly) to do the song, only because: A. I'd heard that particular arrangement before (it was performed at our ward's Christmas party just the week before, in fact!); and B. "O Holy Night" is a song that's very much about the vocal performance, not the accompaniment, so I figured I could get away with a substandard performance; and C. I love love love "O Holy Night" and take every chance to play it, no matter how bad I end up doing!

The end result was pretty messy (on my part, not the soloist's; she did a lovely job!). And the family rewarded me with a bunch of candy and oranges from their tree, so it was a win-win overall. But having such short notice on the song (and struggling through the song with my own ward), combined with all the other musical performances I'd gone through that week, left me pretty emotionally drained. Thank goodness for holiday break, when I can let Pandora do all the musical "performances" while I crash at home! But the kids and I will be back practicing our music after the holidays...after a well-deserved rest!