Many enjoyed the funny, lighthearted second and third grade Christmas concert on Tuesday December fourth. But not many know all of the intensity and preparations that had to go on behind the scenes to make the concert such a big success. Maureen Woeltge, lower school Concert Director stated, “My preparations started back in summer splitting up the roles, organizing the parts, laying out the plans, and planning on how to teach them the music.”
Ms. Woeltge wasn’t the only one preparing extremely early, the students preparations began early as well. She explained “we start preparing for the concert right after grandparents day. We are kind of like a shopping store, because we are already singing Christmas songs in October.” The students are especially busy with preparations the week before the concert itself. Third grade teacher Ann Brown stated, “The classroom schedule gets a little tighter, but we just become creative with it”
The trickiest part for students preparing for such a complex concert is “keeping motivated and staying focused but they always do a good job. Something that really motivates them is a song memorization tracker which is drawn on the whiteboard and they can visually see where they are at and their improvement” Mrs. Woeltge adds on. The song memorization tracker is not only for the students but Mrs. Woeltge as well. To help her with her biggest challenge of keeping organized and separating all the different Christmas concerts between the grades.
“I am never nervous when they are on stage, but very excited because it is their time to shine, to showcase everything they have learned” Brown said. She really had nothing to worry about, for even though the concert was a challenging production, the students on stage were in sync and knew all of their lines. The professional delivery was most impressive from a young group of performers.
Mrs. Woeltge added, “my favorite moment is seeing them on stage showcase what they have learned and then talking to them after the concert about their fun stories. On the way home one family sung all the songs from the concert together […] That’s really what it’s all about.”