Whenever I plan a concert, I always try to keep three questions in mind: what will help students grow musically, what content will enrich our school community, what is culturally relevant for our school and community at large? Read on to see just a few examples of the concerts that I have created with students.
What was it About?Kids grow up so fast! Sometimes it feels like they’ve shot up an inch overnight and become mini-adults much faster than you ever expected! We decided to take some time to celebrate the little things that we really love: our family, friends, playing games, snacks, and dancing.
All of the songs we performed were loosely based around the idea of growing up and getting older. For instance, we performed the song "PB&J" but talked about how it was a favorite after-school snack. We sang "Rig-A-Jig-Jig" which has lyrics about meeting a "brand new friend" and we related this to going to school for the first time and making new friends in our classroom. A crowd-favorite was "When I was One," which details the many hilarious things that kids do as they grow up. |
Making it our OwnThe real challenge with this concert was time management. At Woodstock Elementary School I see my students once every seven school days. We have nearly 1,200 students and only six specials teachers which means our contact time with students is extremely limited. I needed to craft a concert that used songs and standards already in our curriculum and yet make the performance of those "everyday songs" exciting for parents to watch.
With so many students we barely fit in the gym (grade-level concerts mean that you might have up to 200 students performing at a time) and parents don't always have the best view of their child. We used a sort of rotation so that each homeroom got a featured song where they moved to the front of the group and performed a dance or set of actions. This meant that for parents, at some point in the performance their child would be front and center and they would easily be able to snap photos and enjoy seeing their student shine. To make this even more exciting for students, we envisioned what we might want to grow up to do some day. Students were encouraged to come to the concert dressed as "community helpers" like firefighters, nurses, teachers, and so on. |
What was it About?This concert centered around the book "What Do You Do With and Idea" by Kobi Yamada. The night started off with a video where the book was read by student voice-over featuring music and pictures from the book. In the concert students sang songs, played recorders, and performed pieces using xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels.
To connect with the theme of the night, the music we performed showed how composers can take an idea and adapt/change/alter it to make beautiful music. For example, a composer can take a well-known nursery rhyme and add instruments, create new verses, change the form, alter the harmonic structure, and more. Concepts that we explained were theme and variation, layering, using form in music, parody technique, and more. Not all parents had read the book that our concert was based on and I wanted them to understand the context for our concert. I recorded the voices of Ralya Elementary students reading the book and created this short video.
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Making it our OwnI wanted to feature the unique talents of the students in each homeroom. For that reason, each of the four homerooms had their very own special song to perform in addition to the large group pieces. Many of these songs came from the "Music for Children" volumes and highlighted the differing skills of the various students.
To further promote the theme of "ideas coming to life" I worked with the STEAM teacher to make the evening a showcase of student learning. She set up projects from the STEAM exploratory class in the lunchroom and parents and students were able to walk through and look at the work before and after the concert. This included "Curious Contraptions," 3D printing, exploratory experiments with their results, and much more. To get the whole school excited about this concert, students in all grade levels were given a large lightbulb cutout to color and add in a short paragraph about their "bright idea" for a new invention. Those lightbulbs were displayed around the lobby when audience members walked in to school. |
What was it About?"The Big Chill" is a mini-musical written by Sally K. Albrecht and Jay Althouse. It's not always just the students who hope for a snow day at your school, right? This fun-filled concert explored what children and teachers are really thinking on the eve of a snow day. The children sang about the weather forecast, what they might do on a snow day, pleaded and hoped for seven feet of snow, and even sang from the viewpoint of the teachers in the teachers' lounge. We even simulated a real snowstorm by adding scarves and dancing a fun routine to the "Trepak" dance of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.
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Making it our OwnThis whole program was about a snow day and having fun outside in winter weather. The students and I had a discussion about how some kids in our own community didn't have what they really needed to enjoy the snow and ice. So, we partnered with the Haslett Community Food Bank to collect everything a kid would need for a "Snow Day Survival Kit." For the whole week before the concert we collected hats, gloves, coats, scarves, warm socks, mittens, and more. On the night of the show we had baskets out for audience members to drop off new or gently-used, warm weather items. This hat and mitten drive provided over 100 warm-weather items to the Haslett Community Food Bank/Clothes Closet.
The second graders performed this on the night of the concert and then a week later traveled to the local senior living community to perform for the residents. We added the carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and were pleasantly surprised when we were offered cookies and punch (in place of the traditional caroling food- figgy pudding). |
What was it About?"Fiesta! The Legend Of The Poinsettia" is a mini-musical written by Sally K. Albrecht and Jay Althouse based on the Mexican folk tale about the origins of the poinsettia plant. As Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) approaches, all of the villagers celebrate the wonderful traditions of Las Posadas - from the nightly candlelit processions to the breaking of the piñata. But young Alicia is troubled, as she has no gift to present in the plaza on Christmas Eve. She learns that giving from her heart is magical, as her lowly gift blossoms into the fiery poinsettia plant.
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Making it our OwnThe students of Frances Willard Elementary were almost entirely the children of Mexican American immigrants. Many parents and grandparents who came to musical performances could only speak Spanish and didn't always understand the songs that we would sing. I wanted to find a way to challenge the students musically, connect with our community, and draw in those parents and grandparents who didn't always understand the songs we sang. Our Poinsettia concert had a storyline based around a well-known Mexican folk tale that many of our audience members already knew. The songs we sang integrated quite a bit of Spanish language in with the English lyrics. The audience was delighted and more connected to the story than ever before.
We added ribbon wands to the song "March of the Children" to add an exciting visual effect and movement piece to the concert. Actual poinsettia plants were donated to us by a local plant nursery and after the concert we gifted them to a local retirement home for the residents to enjoy. |
What was it About?From our picturesque Petoskey stones to the magnificent "Mighty Mac" Bridge, Michiganders take pride in the many things that make our state so unique. But aside from these well-known state symbols, the Great Lakes state has a few other distinctions you may not have known about. Our third graders spent the evening singing about and explaining to the audience what makes them Proud to be from Michigan!
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Making it our OwnEach year the third grade students from Ralya Elementary take a week-long field trip (called the BIG History Lesson) to the Michigan Historical Museum, located in Lansing, MI. Ralya teachers develop themes and plan lessons to teach students about the history and development of Michigan. The museum provides classroom space, daily presentations for the youngsters and an engaging backdrop designed to motivate any learner. The program was developed in 1999 by then Michigan Teacher of the Year Margaret Holtschlag, who spent a sabbatical at the museum. The BIG History lesson has been running ever since.
I wanted to build upon the experiences that students had at the BIG History Lesson to really bring the content to life. For this concert I programmed songs straight from our history including folk songs about the lumber industry, iron ore excavation, and the fur trade. I also featured songs about inventions and innovations from the state including a song about the automobile industry and an ode to the Mighty Mackinaw Bridge (the longest suspension bridge with two towers between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere). One really special addition to the concert was the song "Bird and I." This song was based upon a poem by the Chippewa tribe and included music that was written specifically for students in Haslett Public Schools. The song was first sung by students at our sister school, Murphy Elementary. |
Other special performances
Kansas City Lyric Opera ExpressStudents loved performing with the Kansas City Lyric Opera Express! We learned a variety of songs based on famous opera choruses during music class. As a culminating experience, principal singers and an accompanist from the KC Lyric Opera came to our school with sets, instruments, and costumes. Our students sang along with the professionals in a performance for the whole school.
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Jellybean Conspiracy - Theatre of KindnessOne favorite moment from teaching in the Kansas City metro area was when I was able to be a pilot school for the "Jellybean Conspiracy" and their elementary musical titled "No Such Thing As Normal." This special program called "A Theater of Kindness” teaches children about autism through musical theater. Our students performed a new musical and were featured in a highglight film explaining the program.
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Woodstock Holiday chorus TourIt's a WES school tradition for the 5th grade chorus to do a holiday tour of Woodstock, GA. Over the coruse of 8 weeks we learned songs and choreography and then sang for community partners at our local fire station, a nearby public library, city hall, a nursing home, and public performance at a nearby retailer.
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