Concert Risks and Results

 Thursday, March 9, 2023 was our school's concert. There hasn't been an in-person concert since December 2019. We have different educators in charge of our music and performing arts programs this year. All of these factors, combined with scheduling a big gathering while we still wrestle with the fallout from the COVID pandemic, meant that we attempted some different routines and approaches. We got to see how successful our attempts would be.

(Program cover artwork shown created by student HL)

Neither Winter, Nor Spring

Usually, we hold two concerts in a school year. The Winter Concert occurs in December and the Spring Concert happens in April. This year, we didn't feel ready to hold a major event that early. Therefore, we decided to have a traditional concert in March and attempt an "Open House / Exhibition Style" event in May. With no seasonal theme, this made selecting what pieces to present open-ended - a mixed blessing. We chose the week before March Break as our concert date, so that there would be a concrete focus prior to the holiday and hopefully less "unraveling" as the vacation time drew closer.

Short but All-Inclusive and Least-Disruptive

During our pre-concert discussions, the concert committee received feedback from the staff that they wanted the concert to be brief but/and also involve every class in the school. This meant that several of the classes did combined performances. It meant that rehearsals were tricky to arrange because we also reduced the number of days that the gym was closed for regular physical education class use. (In the past, our school gym was inaccessible for about a week prior to the concert day, for decorations, set-up, and on-site practices.) In the end, the show lasted about an hour.

Two Shows (Matinee and Evening Performances)

Even though our school population is small (with under 300 students), it is always a full house in attendance. To alleviate the pressure of the large crowds, we offered a matinee show option. We used to have a walk through, dry run (attended by all the students), and then a dress rehearsal (with everyone in their waiting rooms and an empty gym). We eliminated the walk through and transformed the dress rehearsal into a matinee performance with a live audience. We didn't know how many guests would show up; it turns out we had four rows of visitors, who had better-than-average seats for the concert than they might have in the evening.

Expand Performance Choices

Concerts used to be the time to showcase our amazing musical talents. This year, it was our goal to provide a variety of types of acts. Yes, we had students singing and playing musical instruments, but in addition to those sessions, we also included Bollywood dancing and Shadow Puppet Theatre. The teachers responsible for organizing the show numbers also made a concentrated effort to use source material from different cultural groups. Dr. Rudine Sims-Bishop encourages educators to consider "mirrors, windows and doors" for reading selection and we can also use her words to guide us for performance selections as well, so long as it is not cultural appropriation. 

So, how was it? Overall, we are very pleased with the results. Considering that our intermediate division learners have only been playing their band instruments for a little over six months, they sounded great. Considering that the Grade 1s and 1-2s had such a complicated piece (with props to manipulate, lines to memorize and a song to sing), there were few noticeable errors. I heard many positive comments about the concert experience from attendees. Naturally, there are things we would alter for next time, such as beginning the matinee show earlier and promoting the afternoon option more heavily. I wrote earlier this school year about setting up the shadow puppet theatre and contemplating different cultural stories related to the moon. This demonstrates that the students have been working on this show for nearly three and a half months. It is a relief that it's over and that everyone was delighted with the results. I don't have photos of the concert - our school photographer took many shots during the matinee and we will use them for the yearbook - but beforehand, I took photos of the cardboard puppets (after spending 45 minutes repairing them). (These are just four of the many puppets used.)

Thanks to everyone who played a part in creating this school concert:

• the Concert Committee
• the MCs and translators
• the stage crew and tech crew
• the program designers
• the runners and ushers
• the Parent Council (who ran a Snack Bag fundraiser at the concert)
• the Student Council (who coordinated a food drive collection alongside the concert)
• the staff members who supervised on and off stage

Special thanks to Connie Chan. In addition to her role as a regular classroom teacher, Connie teaches junior-intermediate music and five of the nine acts were numbers that she prepared with various classes and student groups. Connie was worried about how this year's concert would be perceived, especially when compared to concerts from the past, run by educators whose main focus was almost purely music instruction. Connie, you had nothing to fear - the concert was amazing. (Now it's just 2.5 months until our next big gala - *gulp!*) ;>