Well it is THAT time again…yes the school Christmas Concert! After years of primary school nativity plays, Christmas plays and Christmas carols, where Miss Hap has been cast in the role of everything from a Cowboy (Christmas from around the World), to a sheep in the traditional nativity (what a nightmare getting that costume, but good old Ebay saved the day) we have progressed to the more sophisticated Secondary school concert.

This was to encompass dance, drama, orchestra and singing (my daughter chose the choir). All of the year 7s were participating and it promised to be a wonderful evening. Now I am a sucker for a kids’ choir singing Christmas carols, and have sobbed, spluttered and snotted through many a moving performance, but I was NOT going  to show Miss Hap up by bawling now she was at ‘big school’.

Myself and Mr Grump were to get her at the school in good time to prepare, and my sister and brother-in-law were going to meet us there just before it began.As we walked into the large hall, we noticed a huge number of seats as they were expecting a large turnout; plus cameras quite near the back manned by students ready to film the proceedings. The seats being largely unoccupied,we were going to sit near the front, but as we wanted to sit with the other two, we were advised to sit at the back of the first section of seats far away in the distance!

We took our places and put programmes on another two chairs to reserve them, then settled in to wait. After only 5 minutes the chairs were rapidly filling up and I quickly called my sister and told them to hurry up.Another 10 mins later and people reluctant to sit even further back than we were, asked if the seats were free, then glared at us when told they were not. Eventually they turned up, breezed in and took their seats with about a minute to spare. We sat in anticipation as the concert began…..

The orchestra took their places at the side of the hall, and the choir walked through and arranged themselves just in front of the stage (but not ON it, so I could see my daughter’s head, but that was it). Anyway, they launched the show…sorry concert with a traditional Bulgarian song. It was quite catchy, and they all seemed to enjoy singing it, but I was unsure if it was a Christmas song or not. The narrators helpfully told us that it was a story about a little boy who was knitting some socks for his future wife, so I was none the wiser, but it was sweet.

Next the dancers came on and did some elaborate movements, which was something to do with Demons (or so it said in the programme), Now, I’m not trying to be a killjoy here but demons don’t seem to be the embodiment of Christmas spirit, but hey ho, whatever floats your boat!

I won’t go through the whole lot, but were had saxophone, flute and clarinet solos which were excellent; the drama group gave a bite sized performance of ‘The Tempest’ which involved a lot of shouting and the banging of a staff on the stage which made everyone jump!  We were also treated to more songs by the choir, but the main event (for all the wrong reasons) for me and my sister was the orchestra….

The first number they had a go at was ‘Let it Go’ from ‘Frozen’ which is so popular at the moment. It took a while to recognise what it was,as the timing was a bit out on some of the instruments, some of the flutes squealed at the wrong times, but everything was saved when the drum beat kicked in. It was almost like a metronome, bump-bump. bump-bump, keeping up a very slow and constant rhythm, drowning out everything else. Being stupid and childish it struck me as funny, so my chair was rocking as I tried to stifle my laughter (I didn’t want to get lynched by the parents whose girls were playing). My sister kicked my ankle which made me worse, and set her off.

Anyway, they next attempted ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. It was a very slow version which put rather an unusual slant on it, the violins had a job with this one, and there were a few random scrapings which set me teeth on edge, but suddenly after a while ‘bump-bump, bump-bump’, the good old drum beat again, same tone, same speed. My sister muttered to me

“This has got to be the dreariest version I have ever heard”. Of course I tried not to laugh, but a few snorts escaped and Mr Grump caught my eye. I could see he was suffering, School events were not his thing and he had been fidgeting about in his seat throughout the performance, and grimacing at every screech and scrape.

The grand finale was everyone singing/dancing/playing ‘All I Want For Christmas is You’ We knew this one was going to be a massive challenge for all concerned. The dancers got up on the stage behind the choir, and everyone was ready to go. There was a bit of a shaky start, a few missed notes, but then guess what? Yep…bump-bump, bump-bump. The drum beat set the (slow) pace, the orchestra limped through to the very end, the choir sang their best, and the dancers went for it!

To me, this is what it is all about. the fact that those kids who only had a total of 9 hours practice, put so much effort into this concert. They sang/danced/played and acted their little hearts out, and they looked like they really enjoyed themselves as well. The staff also worked hard to produce this event having only known these kids since September. Who cares if it was a little rough around the edges? That wasn’t what mattered. The point was, nearly all of the year group, some two hundred girls had participated,working together, and that’s why I loved it!

It has come to my attention that some of the pupils involved in this concert  have thought that I was being unfairly mean about it.That was NEVER my intention. This blog is MY take on events that happen in MY life. I have not named the school, my daughter or even the town where we live, and I apologise unreservedly if this post has offended anyone. I have re-iterated that I appreciate all of the hard work put  into this concert by everybody involved.