Christmas Musical Chuckles

Tonight was the third grade Christmas musical performance which was, as usual, very cute. My son Jono, however, is not too fond of stage performing; every year he does his best to minimize being seen on stage. This year, he and a few others stood off to the side of the choral risers and he just about disappeared altogether.

I had to go around to the far side of the stage to be able to see him (see the red arrow). The audience is to my left in this picture. But at first, for a minute or so after the curtain went up, we couldn't find him at all. David, The M, and I were sitting in the seats scanning through the kids, trying to find him. Then I saw him. Correction, I saw the top of his head.

He was barely visible behind this prop. I felt a twinge of pride that I was able to recognize him by just his hair and forehead. Such stage presence with that one!

Contrast this to David's Christmas orchestra concert about a week earlier. He's in the upper orchestra for 7th and 8th graders (watch out Yo-yo Ma). He enjoyed playing and it was good to see him perform in this arena of his life. I like this picture because it shows the swirl of the cello and the swirl of his hair - which is like his mama's.

After his songs, then the high school orchestras came out (both upper and lower orchestras) and performed. I must say the top orchestra was really quite good. Then it was time for the big finale; all the strings (violins, violas, cellos, and bases) from all the orchestras (7th through 12th grade) came out on stage together. The stage was packed! Actually, there wasn't room for them all.

As you can see, they were so full they actually had to put the bases down in front of the stage just to have room for everyone. You may also notice that David is standing near the center of stage in this picture. That's because they needed volunteers to play "non-traditional" instruments in this song, and David was eager to ham it up.

So David had a solo in front of a huge crowd... playing a duck call. Makes a fella proud. I guess children's musical performances aren't all they're quacked up to be. Ba dum bum.