Today's School Christmas Concert

        Last evening I was occupied by one of my volunteer activities...front of house duty for the local Arts Center. Being December many school Christmas concerts are held in this fine facility. So I thought back to my previous post of the Christmas concerts put on in days gone by.

        Last night one of the local high schools put on their concert.The concert was made up of a offering of their choral groups and various bands.

         First, they had the choral group and jazz choir perform.

         Next, the grade nine band and jazz band strutted their stuff.

      After the intermission the heavies took the stage...the symphonic winds band. A dance group performed one number with the band. For a finale the band and choral groups performed together. The house was packed with admiring parents and excited students were pacing around the building. Both groups had a right to be excited and proud. It even infected me!

       These kids put on a fine performance of seasonal  and non seasonal music. The students have been in a band program for three years before they hit high school so they have experience to work with. The musicianship is of high quality. Music teachers are much more highly qualified as they are very active in professional development. A very active parents group assists the music program.

     Of course along with the hype there were all kinds of draws made after people laid down their cash for "winning tickets."

      So hats off to all the enthusiastic young performers, teachers and parents. You are doing a fine job.

   

Old Time Christmas Concerts in One Room Country Schools

        Yes, I am old enough to have been in a Christmas concert in a one room country school. In fact, I performed in eight Christmas concerts.

       One of my fellow bloggers has touched on these concerts. I like reading local histories. The local history from my area is full of comments about school Christmas concerts. People have many reasons for looking back at these performances with nostalgia. For many kids the evening was extremely exciting. Others took great pleasure in their performances. Others liked the activity of preparing for the concert. Some teachers were masters in producing an excellent concert and getting amazing performances from young kids. Many teachable moments occurred during the preparation for these concerts.  Kids learned music, set design, dance, acting and a ton of self discipline. Kids gained confidence from performing in front of an audience. Kids received positive feedback. As a result of the good old school concert much learning and growth took place. The teacher probably aged prematurely.

       My memories of school Christmas concerts is pretty sparse. I remember being in a small "drill " with my brother when we were in grade one and two. We were in elf costumes that were made from construction paper. Brown paper shoes and green hats. When our spot was on the concert we went out and the music played. During the performance one of us stepped on a thumb tack. We stopped. One little fellow raised his foot and the other took out the tack and then we continued. The piano player had to adjust and play a few more bars for us to complete our routine. Our parents to their deaths always remembered and laughed about our performance. Parents were always excited and proud of their childrens' performance.

     Other things I remember is that regular classes ceased during the three or four weeks of preparation. Sometimes it was boring as the teacher worked with other kids practising their parts. Sometimes I got into trouble while having nothing to keep me occupied.

    Now I was also old enough to teach in a one room country school. I went out to teach in an isolated school before I had my nineteenth birthday. There were ten students in this school. I knew that parents expected the teacher to put on a Christmas concert. I was petrified as had not a clue what to do and had little talent in music and performance. The school board was wise and extremely thoughtful. They came to me well before concert time and said let's not have a concert. We would rather have the kids stick to the curriculum. Whew!!! They decided to have a little celebration the last afternoon of school. They brought lots of goodies and made a big boiler of coffee. All parents and preschool children attended as well as some people in the district who did not have children in the school. The kids exchanged gifts and were given gifts from the school board. Everybody had a great time and went home happy. It would have been very difficult to put on a concert as out of the ten kids three of them were grade one. The teacher in Louisville school in 1958-59(me) learned more than any student that year. These people also gave me so much support that I decided to return to university and get a teaching degree.

     So my Christmas concert experience was from two points of view.  I know that I enjoyed both sides of the fence and learned from my experience. I also have some very pleasant memories to look back on.

     Please feel free to tell me about your Christmas concert experiences. I'd love to hear about them.

I Hear Christmas Music

       Yesterday it hit me that some Christmas music was being played. I was listening to Vinyl Cafe on CBC when Stuart McLean came on and talked about the Huron Carol which is a favorite of his and one he always plays  on his show. He also played Jingle Bell Rock and then it hit me Christmas Music!!!!

     I never listen to commercial radio so Christmas music is not in my face. I had been the grocery store  a few days ago and there was seasonal music playing. Christmas music was also playing at a volunteer party I attended.

     I listen to CKUA which is a listener sponsored radio...no commercials. They specialize in playing a wide variety of music and have information to go along with it. Tonight I was listening to "Roy's Record Room" This guy plays music from 78's and gives very interesting background on the music and performers. Tonight he gave great detail about the well known "Baby It's Cold Outside." Many performers have recorded this tune. It was first written as a party tune for one party. Others picked it up and sang it. Tonight Roy played two versions ...one buy Homer and Jethro with June Carter...was very enjoyable.

     I enjoy Christmas music as well as many other types of music. I have Christmas tapes but guess what? I don't have a tape deck in the house that works any more. I also have LPs and the same situation...no working turntable. I'm pretty sure Santa is bringing me an ipod so I'll look for Christmas music.

    I can't really say that I have one favorite piece of Christmas music as I like such a wide variety. I hope that you will take pleasure in listening to what ever Christmas music that you like. Let me know what you like listening to. I could stand learning about some music I've not heard before. And by the way check out CKUA . It's on the net

Surprise on me:Christmas is Coming!

        Last week I noticed that two blogs I follow had a Christmas topic. One a reminisce about childhood Christmas expectations and activities and a second describing a painting done of the Mother and Christ child. I'm sure that if I looked for blogs about Christmas I would find lots. So, not too worry I don't get excited about Christmas. Home Farm Girl agrees with that assessment.

        Last night I attended a small appreciation party for volunteers at a facility I volunteer for. The evening was great as volunteers got together for good food, visiting and outdoor fun. The volunteers are mostly seniors but they do make an effort to include handicapped people as well.

     The day before Home Farm Girl had dragged me to a free lunch at one of the malls. Free lunches and crowds are not my favorite, but since Home Farm Girl doesn't drive I had to attend.

     Then I started to think that a number of Christmas activities have sneaked up on me and I was not really aware of what was happening. I guess I was having so much fun I did not really think that December was upon us and Christmas activities were taking place whether I was in gear or not.

     Then I remembered that about Nov. 10 I put up my Christmas lights so that I wouldn't have to suffer in the cold. This too was at the urgent prodding of Home Farm Girl. Today I looked out to see my neighbor putting up his lights and it's minus 15 C(+2F). This afternoon all I had to do was set the timer and turn my lights on.

    Oh yes! I wrote a Christmas letter a couple of weeks ago so that Home Farm Girl could include it with her Christmas cards. I do all my greetings on email.

     So surprise on me. Christmas activities have been happening and I didn't know about it or(think about it.)

December Days

A cold clear December voice
Calls for deep slumber
Dormancy.


                                    Gloomy December
                   Invites us darkly to
                   Winter Solstice.

                                December beckons to
                                Final end of blackness
                                To start new light.


                              

Hanukkah

HAPPY HANUKKAH

                           to all who celebrate this season.

From Hiawatha House

Snow Houses:Igloos

      Since I'm on the "cold" topic I might as well make it three in a row: Polar Bears and Cold Snap and Snow Houses. Since I have been thinking about my polar bear experience it brought back watching the Inuit build snow houses.

      As I said in my last post I spent two years in a remote arctic community. The community had only been established as a settlement for Inuit six years before I arrived in the late sixties. Inuit had lived and hunted in this area for thousands of years. An air radio station had been established in the late 1920's when cross ocean flying first began. Flights from North America went to Wakeham Bay and then across Hudson Strait to Frobisher Bay, across to Greenland , over to Iceland and I'm not sure where after that.They had to use this route so that they could refuel.
     But I got off the topic. When I arrived in this community the people were still actively hunting. One dog team was still in use but all the others had begun using skidoos. These people still were using and familiar with traditional hunting patterns. When they went out on the ice for several days they used snow houses rather than tents. Snow houses were warmer than tents and you didn't have to carry a tent.

     The first time I saw a snow house built was an unforgettable experience. I was not prepared for what I saw. First, the main tool was an ordinary hand wood saw. A large knife (machete) was used in the trimming of the blocks. They first look around for the right amount of snow which has the proper consistency. The snow has to be fairly hard. Then they start cutting blocks out of the snow with the saw. After half a dozen blocks or so they begin setting them up. The bottom of the block is slightly beveled so that it tilts inward. They continue this pattern in a spiral . When the second course is laid they make sure that the blocks overlap the bottom joints and again the blocks are slightly bevelled. The layers continue until one piece of snow can be cut to fill in the last hole in the top. All this is done from inside so you see the blocks of snow do not get that high. Any spaces between the blocks are filled with little chunks of snow. They cut the door out from inside. The test for success of your house is to be able to stand on it! My fellow teacher tried his hand at building snow houses and was very successful.

      Again I have pictures which are still slides and not changed to digital. I have a project ahead of me.

      These houses are surprisingly comfortable. You have to be careful not to warm them up too much or the inside walls ice up and then they are not comfortable. I once had a soapstone mining project where they went out for a week to mine soap stone . At the end of the week the inside of the snow houses were iced up. They used Colemann stoves which would throw off too much heat.

     These were wonderful houses and I'm glad I got to see them even though I didn't spend a night in one.