Many years ago now, I was in charge of a Holiday Concert for our Elementary School. In that area of California, the schools had only academic programs. All of the extras had been cut due to Proposition 13. However, the parents really wanted a full experience for their children. So we got together and produced Holiday concerts each Christmas with most of the school student population participating. (If that isn't a referendum for having music in the schools, I don't know what is!)
Anyway, I was searching for a theme song one year to build the show around and just couldn't find what rang a bell. Then I heard a promising string of words in my head: "Under the Christmas Tree..." That did it! But I didn't have access right then to a piano. So, that late afternoon in July, while minding my kids playing in the sandbox at the park, I thought up a little Partner Song for the show all about the hopes of what children might wish for "Under the Christmas Tree." The words and the music came very quickly and in those days my memory wasn't so cluttered, so I was able to hold onto all the parts and pieces until I could get to some manuscript paper and a piano to write it all down. Whew!
That was a fun show. We had some songs and choral readings and poems that illuminated the hopes and dreams of what the children in that day wished for under the Christmas tree. We even had some dancers who stood on round platforms and danced as wind-up dolls while the chorus sang. But, what those children realized is that each of those presents really represented LOVE, for each gift was given with love from very special people. That gave us a chance to also do a song about gratitude and giving and receiving graciously. Seems like children today could use a good dose of that medicine!
But, the puzzlement for me this season is that I just learned that a children's chorus in Indonesia will be learning and performing "Under the Christmas Tree" in their holiday program. I didn't know that they even spoke or sang in English in Indonesia. Just curious about the type of Christmas Tree a family in Indonesia might have, though. A palm or hibiscus? Guess it really doesn't matter. Children have universal hopes and dreams, wherever, under whatever Christmas tree!
Anyway, I was searching for a theme song one year to build the show around and just couldn't find what rang a bell. Then I heard a promising string of words in my head: "Under the Christmas Tree..." That did it! But I didn't have access right then to a piano. So, that late afternoon in July, while minding my kids playing in the sandbox at the park, I thought up a little Partner Song for the show all about the hopes of what children might wish for "Under the Christmas Tree." The words and the music came very quickly and in those days my memory wasn't so cluttered, so I was able to hold onto all the parts and pieces until I could get to some manuscript paper and a piano to write it all down. Whew!
That was a fun show. We had some songs and choral readings and poems that illuminated the hopes and dreams of what the children in that day wished for under the Christmas tree. We even had some dancers who stood on round platforms and danced as wind-up dolls while the chorus sang. But, what those children realized is that each of those presents really represented LOVE, for each gift was given with love from very special people. That gave us a chance to also do a song about gratitude and giving and receiving graciously. Seems like children today could use a good dose of that medicine!
But, the puzzlement for me this season is that I just learned that a children's chorus in Indonesia will be learning and performing "Under the Christmas Tree" in their holiday program. I didn't know that they even spoke or sang in English in Indonesia. Just curious about the type of Christmas Tree a family in Indonesia might have, though. A palm or hibiscus? Guess it really doesn't matter. Children have universal hopes and dreams, wherever, under whatever Christmas tree!
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