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Yesterday my students performed their annual Christmas Concert. It was a really fabulous concert, and I am super proud of my students. Other than some very small glitches—for example, the first soloist on “O Holy Night” came in late (no big deal—we just kept vamping a C major chord until he started) and his wireless mic got a little crackly on the first few words—it went very smoothly.
There are essentially two parts to the Christmas Concert. The first part involves the Foreign Language classes, which perform Christmas songs in their respective languages. I always say that it’s not really Christmas until the Latin students sing “Rudolphus” (“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in Latin). That part is fun, but it’s kind of like checking a box to me: the Foreign Language students get a grade for singing in the concert, and it means a lot to a longtime Latin teacher for the students of the various Foreign Language classes to sing.
The second part is the real concert, when my Middle School and High School Music Ensembles get to play. Here is the program for that portion of the concert:
Middle School Music Ensemble
- “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
- “Jingle Bell Rock”
- “The First Noël” – an instrumental version I arranged that featured our violinist, cellist, and pianists most prominently.
- “Silent Night” – first in 3/4 time, then a rocked-up version in 4/4 time.
High School Music Ensemble
- “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
- “Hallelujah” – the Leonard Cohen one, not the Handel one!
- “O Little Town of Bethlehem” – first in the style of “your grandmother’s overly-long, excessively hot Christmas Eve candlelight service,” then in a swingin’ style a la the Frank Sinatra version.
- “Carol of the Bells” – super cool!
Combined Ensembles
- “O Holy Night” – with two vocal soloists and a sick guitar solo; there were about thirty-one kids on our tiny stage for this one, and it was awesome.
I didn’t get too crazy with our programming this year, and a few repeats from last year (“Jingle Bell Rock,” “Silent Night,” and “O Holy Night” are always perennial picks).
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