Jeff's concert, which is soon to be broadcast on EdTV and the Internet (I'll let you know when the link is available), kicked off the week. This was his fifth annual "Will Sing for Food Concert" which collects nonperishable food items from audience members. Even in these tough economic times, nearly 700 items were donated to Skyline High School's Breakfast with Santa program (slated for tomorrow) which is a school wide effort to fulfill Christmas wishes for needy families in our area. In exchange for the much needed food for local children, audience members were treated to food for the soul. Skyline choir concerts are known for their entertainment value with running jokes, humorous pre-concert videos and silly holiday songs like "The Snickelways of York" and "Cold and Fugue Season", but they also provide moments of deeply moving music that remind us of the true meaning of Christmas with contemporary songs like "Mary, Did You Know?" and fabulous arrangements of traditional carols like "We Three Kings." The faculty joined the combined choirs to form a group nearly 200 voices strong for the finale of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" which sent everyone home humming a happy tune. All this music simply provided a warm up to my son's choir concert on the following night.
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| The boy all dressed up and spinning his wheels before the concert began. |
Queen Creek High School's choir program is younger and smaller, but still provides ample opportunities to find the holiday spirit. The women's chorus did a cute arrangement of "Jingle Bells Through the Ages" which featured the well-known tune set in various traditional and contemporary styles. (Of course the sparkly Santa hats were just an added bonus!) Chorale, the larger mixed group, performed a lovely rendition of "The First Noel" combined with "Pachelbel's Canon in D." My son spent the last two weeks singing and playing this on the piano, so I was excited to hear it with all the voices in place. They finished their performance with an excellent arrangement of "Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow." Of course, post concert etiquette at our house demands dessert and critique, so Oma and Opa joined us for coffee and assorted Christmas goodies while we discussed the merits of each piece and were serenaded by boy and his guitar.
Of course, the third concert - The King's Singers - was spectacular. The first half of their show was devoted to serious Christmas literature interspersed with poems and other readings. One of the most moving sections included a reading from a letter written by a British soldier stationed on the Western front on Christmas Eve 1915. He wrote to his wife about how the fighting had stopped and both British and German soldiers were enjoying camaraderie and peace. His moving words were flanked by the quite beginnings of "Silent Night" in its original German. As the reading ended the glorious music swelled to fill the hall and tears filled the eyes of many audience members. After a break, the group returned to regale us with sillier versions of Christmas songs like "The Twelve Days of Christmas" complemented by imaginary letters from the recipient of all those gifts. If you're not familiar with The King's Singers, here's a link to one of the songs we heard last night to get you started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziHrnW9S3UQ . Of course, once the concert was over, Jeff made the rounds and had each member autograph the CD he purchased!
The culmination to this musical week will be tomorrow night's caroling party. I have to admit that while hearing the gorgeous strains of well-trained singers is always a treat, walking through the neighborhood, spreading Christmas cheer with my own voice is the best night of all. Being able to participate in the music, feeling it fill the lungs (the heart, the soul) and the air all around is truly the feeling that Christmas has come at last.
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