Collin's First Grade Winter Concert

We live in a time when no holidays that have religious connections are celebrated in schools. It makes me sort of sad that my boys don’t really get the chance to enjoy the magic of various faiths in celebration at school. We’re not even religious, so its not a religion in schools plug. Instead it’s a celebrate diversity in learning about others plug. Instead of worrying about not offending anyone and therefore celebrating nothing, I wish they celebrated everything. I wish the could experience Hanukah, Christmas, Divali, Kwanza, Ramadan, Chinese New year, all the bigs of all the faiths and denominations. I think it always helps open their eyes to the magic that is stored in tradition and heritage.  But, they don’t. Instead they do this “winter concert” thing where they sing a few songs and sorta pay homage to a few cultures.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the concert itself because the kids are so excited to be able to show off the songs they have been working on for months. They stand in the risers, a tiny bit nervous, waving at us sitting in the seats just ahead. They steel themselves for their masterpiece performance where they try their best, even if that is just humming along

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This year they sang a African folk song, a few Spanish songs, a French song, and a few standard American fares. At first grade they are adorable- enough independence to take pride in what they are doing, enough playful joy to trumpet on, even if they are out of tune.

They sang the Ants go Marching and were so enveloped in their own pace they left the recording behind, which made for a sort of double layered version of song and tune. Again, adorable and so full of inspiration about what it is to be committed to a task, that for them, meant pushing forward with or without their accompaniment.

In the end, we really enjoyed the concert and I found myself thinking- do I really have a first grader standing in those risers? How did we get here? And you know what, it turns out there was a song for nearly every season of our lives.

When the boys were little we sang our share of nursery tunes, a fan favorite was the wheels on the bus during lunch time. I made up songs that made no sense to introduce vocabulary, I sang about making lunch, making beds, changing diapers. You name it, there was a song. We did music together and I still find myself humming the hello and goodbye songs from those groups.

In toddlerhood the songs became a mix of soothing remedies and purposeful ballads. The clean up song entered our repertoire, and soon behind were the Daniel Tiger varieties of “Try new foods, they might taste good” and “If you are feeling mad and you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to four.”

The preschool welcomed us, and we were still singing songs, this time to finger plays, adventures in books, and many more. Character profiles appeared in our world and suddenly songs from Disney movie’s we’d never seen were attractive to the boys. The Lion King soundtrack ran often, even though we’ve still never watched the movie.  Pandora also entered their lives, and a whole new world of children’s music, classic music, and “momma’s music” opened up.

And so, the winter concert reminded me that for every tradition, moment and adventure in our lives, season to season there is a song. I hope it continues, as when I hear those songs now, I’m transported back to those moments. I hope someday, when I hear the Ants Go Marching I’ll be transported back to first grade, where my oldest shared a piece of his heart on the risers in his elementary school with us.