Hi folks!
We performed our spring concert a few weeks ago and I'm finally ready to share my thoughts and things that I can think about to do for next time. I found my last post about the winter concert was helpful so I thought I should make another one after our spring concert!
It took me awhile to really sit down and brainstorm about what I wanted the spring concert to look like. We could have worked with a spring theme, but that felt boring and predictable.... So off I went on Teachers Pay Teachers, and reading others blog posts about concert planning, and finally I came up with the theme.... Food! My parents always said I had an obsession with food - I could tell you what I ate for breakfast on a specific holiday, when asked about birthday parties I would talk about the kind of cake they had.... things haven't really changed since then! I got the idea from Leah Wanner's Teachers Pay Teachers shop where she has a few items with concert ideas. She lists theme ideas and then songs or activities that could go with it. Food was one of her theme ideas, though I chose a lot of my own songs.
The concert was titled "What's For Dinner?" and the program had the title of "Tonight's Menu". I introduced each group as if they were serving the audience their particular foods (songs). The theme was praised more than I thought it would be (I thought a lot of people would have been confused about why the spring concert wasn't spring themed...) and I had a lot of fun coming up with the program.
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| Our stage with amazing decor made by Shaughnessy Park students! |
Kindergartens served two songs from Music K-8, Apples and Bananas and Guacamole. Grade 4's served an arrangement of Hot Cross Buns that I made which included a round and some harmonies, and Green Bean Casserole. Grade 5's served the audience Banana Smoothie(s) and (The) Pasta (Song). Grade 6 served an arrangement by Beth's Music Room called I Like To Eat Ice Cream that I further arranged to include layering and repetitions, and a bucket drumming accompaniment to The Wellerman that they mostly made themselves (serving sugar, tea.... and something else). At the very end of the show, all the performers came back to serve a dance to Popcorn and to tell the audience that Veggies Are Yummy. The students performed so well (especially for their first concert in almost three years)!
Of course, with this new experience came many lessons learned. See those lessons below:
1. Set up the stage 2-3 days before the concert
Especially with it having been so many years since the students have performed a concert, I wish we had more time to practice going on and off the stage. My classroom has built in risers, which was really helpful, but it is not the same experience as going up on the stage. With ample time before the concert to practice, students will only have to worry about performing and not the logistics of how to get on or off the stage, where to place their instruments, etc.
2. Cancel classes the day before, and the day of the concert. In advance!
With this being my first (in-person) concert experience, I didn't consider having dress rehearsals. I figured each group would rehearse on their own, and that would be fine. But, by having dress rehearsals it allowed us to work out any audio disruptions between songs and groups, knowing which group transitions worked well and which ones didn't, etc. The dress rehearsal also allowed our non-participating grades to watch the show during school hours! It was great for the performing students to have practice performing in front of an audience before the real show.
Because I didn't realize soon enough how important the dress rehearsals were, the classroom teachers I work with were only given a day (or two, maybe!) notice when their classes would be cancelled. They were so gracious and I was never given a hard time, but I could understand if they felt frustrated with the sudden change.
Plans for next time
I'm in the process of coming up with a major "to do" list for concerts for myself. It's more than just picking out and rehearsing repertoire! Coming up with transition schedules, a line order for students on stage, combined rehearsal times (when you have multiple classes performing the same piece), stage maps, permits, etc etc. There were so many pieces I didn't consider when originally planning the concert. A lot of these things hadn't crossed my mind, some of them I wasn't aware they even existed (like the permits!). I figure this "to do" list would come in handy for future concerts.
Upcoming!
I originally wrote this blog post (everything you see above) a few weeks ago. With it being the last day of school, I figured this was the best day to get this post published (because we all know that it probably won't be until December when I post again....)
What a year this has been! It has been challenging and rewarding at the same time. On one hand, the year feels like it has flown by, but on the other hand there were some very slow months. I can't believe we're already at the end.
Unfortunately I will not be returning to Shaughnessy Park this fall. I'm very sad to go. It has taken a few weeks to accept, and as of this morning I learned I'm not completely at peace with it. Oddly enough, it feels a lot like grieving. I have moments of calm, anger, and sadness, and they seem to cycle constantly. June has been a bumpy month - coming from the high point of our concert, where I felt overwhelming pride and joy, to such a low finding out I wouldn't be returning in the fall.
As of this morning, I have accepted a permanent position teaching K-6 music (and maybe some Grade 7-12!) at St. Laurent School! I'm excited to be back in a rural community, though it is quite the drive I think it is a great place for me to really start building my own program and watching students grow. Especially since it is a K-12 school - it's going to be amazing watching them graduate into the adult world. On to the next adventure!
Thanks for reading!
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