This morning at around 8:21 AM EST my students will perform their annual Christmas Concert. It’s a time-honored tradition, and represents the biggest performance of the first semester.
I often describe the Christmas Concert as my favorite and least favorite day of the school year. It’s my favorite because it is incredible seeing my students perform, especially while glorifying God. It’s my least favorite because it’s usually a stressful and busy day, after which I am completely drained.
However, this year I am feeling much better about it than I normally do. My kids always do a great job, and the concert always comes off without a hitch (or without too many of them). I think I am feeling confident about the concert because I have actually had time to prepare myself and my students for it properly.
Last school year was a demoralizing slog—the hardest of my career. I was teaching nearly every period of the day, and never had an afternoon planning period. I was teaching lessons during both lunch sessions, and would have students sometimes until 6 or 6:30 PM. The result was that some days I would not be able to use the bathroom for upwards of eight or nine hours—or longer. I would get home each day exhausted and burned out, and was increasingly irritable and even nihilistic.
After a heart-to-heart with my administration, I have a much more manageable schedule this year. I have ample planning time to work ahead on grading, planning, etc., and can actually do a lot of the things I always needed to do as a teacher, but would often let fall by the wayside out of sheer exhaustion or necessity. I still work hard and get stressed and tired, but I’m not constantly weary to the point of bitterness.
So it is that I am looking forward to the concert. It should be fun. My students are sounding good. The only thing we haven’t tested is the combined Middle School and High School Ensembles playing “O Holy Night.” We’re going to combine them into one mega-ensemble, which will be about thirty students on the stage at once. My High School kids are skeptical. I’m excited.
Stay tuned for a full report tomorrow!
Merry Christmas!
—TPP
The Portly Politico 
Do you play alongside the students in the concert or do they perform better without the watchful gaze of Mr Cook? I was wondering about that when you last posted about it. Some people need the reassurance of an adult, others thrive without it.
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I used to play with them, but my headmaster told me years ago that I couldn’t anymore, lol, that I needed to conduct them. I was salty about it for a long time, but it actually does work better, and I have enough students now that I don’t need to cover parts.
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