If those three words don't strike dread deep into your soul, they should. And after you watch any part of these videos, that dread will be deepened.Last year the kids sang songs at their end-of-year celebration, but because the music teacher will be on vacation at that time this summer, they decided to do it earlier and separately.
Just like last year, I kept thinking, why are they trying to get preschoolers to sing these complicated songs? They could totally nail "The Wheels on the Bus" but don't stand a chance with "Hallelujah."
Well, anyway, here are some snippets. Watch at your own peril.
First off, the guitar recital. We've been paying 40 bucks a month extra since last summer for Alice to have guitar lessons at daycare. We have no hopes or aspirations whatsoever; we just signed her up because all her friends were doing it and we didn't want her to feel left out and deprived. Plus music is good for brain development. Welcome to modern parenting.
There were a total of four small-group performances like this so that each kid who took guitar lessons had a chance to play.
You can see Alice is still working out her shyness issues. Hiding behind her hands seems to be a good coping mechanism, as long as it gets her out on stage.
And now for some singing...
Alice is clearly the kid in the class with the most/only stage fright. It's just ironic that she wants an audience the whole time we are at home, but as soon as she has a real audience giving their undivided attention to her, she freaks out and shuts down. The other irony is that she was sooooo looking forward to this and had been talking about it for weeks.
Alice told me she would be singing at the microphone for "Riley the Singing Raccoon." I had never heard of the song, so I tried to find it on youtube, thinking she could get in a bit of extra practice. But nothing showed up. At the concert, Ms. Sandra introduced the song by explaining that she wrote it herself for a former student named Riley who really loved music. That's pretty cool.
Hallelujah, the end is near. For the last song, they did the now famous song "Hallelujah." Alice had been telling me about this for a while, because her favorite line is "She tied you to her kitchen chair." Alice was very interested in that part of the song. But, as you can see, none of the kids, except Rye, can sing it. I mean, Alice maybe could mumble along, if she wasn't so terrified. So it ended up being this weird thing where the teachers sang and the kids squirmed. I only filmed a bit of it.
Here is how it went. We go to his room, and he's beyond excited and happy to see both of us there. He told anyone who would listen, "My mommy and daddy are here!" But soon, the parents were told to go out one door and the kids had to go out another. I was anticipating a breakdown right then, but luckily I managed to pass him into the arms of a teacher, and forestalled the inevitable.
So here's the video. It's chaotic and painfully annoying, but quite interesting at the same time. In the beginning, keep an eye on Simon's face. He's the kid towards the back wearing the blue plaid shirt. (We dressed him up so he would look classy while having a meltdown.)
Well anyway, we all survived and he didn't scream and cry, so it gets a little easier every year. To be fair, I could see why he freaked out. The audience was full of giant people (parents) all staring intently at the kids and holding their phones up. Even I felt intimidated.
After we came out from his concert, Alice was devastated to discover her playground was empty and everyone was going home. She burst into tears, wailing, "The fun is all over. The best day ever is over!" She must have inherited my sense of the "moments" in life and didn't want this one to end.
Luckily for all the parents involved, it did end and we headed home. Since it was already supper time, we decided to pick up a pepperoni pizza on the way home from our beloved Little Caesar's "Hot n Ready" drive thru window. That seemed to make everything better after the trauma we all had suffered.
