First Performance!

On Saturday, Adam and Ellie performed in their first OCMCO concert at Segerstrom Hall. I wish I had managed to take pictures of them at the hall, but in the absence of that here they are all dressed up in their choir uniforms.



The concert was amazing, as they always are, but I have to say I absolutely loved seeing them both on stage. Ellie sings in the most junior choir, and they are always a riot to watch because some of them are so little. She is one of the older ones, and she did really well. She has loved rehearsals, and she loves singing, though we are still working on her belief that the higher she sings the prettier it is. She was right in tune with everyone else during her performance, phew.

Adam begged me not to put him in the choir all summer. I told him he had no choice, this was one of those things that parents get to choose. Then, once rehearsals started, he spent weeks begging me not to put him in the choir again next term. I didn't pay too much attention, because he also spent weeks singing Riu Riu Chiu at home until even Kate, aged 2 and a half, could sing along in perfect medieval Spanish. So I knew he was enjoying it somewhat! He was super nervous about getting stage fright which stems from the time in his Kindergarten school concert when he had a solo and collapsed from stage fright right before he was due to sing. So I could understand his concerns! But I also knew that the only way to conquer it was to do it again, and what better place to do it in than Segerstrom Hall? I will admit to being concerned enough that I had a quiet word with the parent helpers and they were primed to haul him discreetly off stage should they need to. But he did fine, as 98% of me was sure he would. When I picked him up after the first concert, he just exploded out of the stage door and bounced over to me and said 'That was the BEST THING EVER!!!!'

So we are now a choir family. We're doing it again. It will be so good for the kids. Adam sits on the front row of his choir, and during the dress rehearsal on Friday he was literally hanging over the rail all agog watching the percussionists who were right in front of him. And he duly announced that he wants to play the tubular bells when he grows up. You can't buy that kind of exposure, though I could wish that he was seated in front of a less intimidating instrument. Drum set, every parent's worst nightmare. He was pretty interested in the french horns, too, and that I could live with!

The next concert is in April, but in February we will be recording a CD of the Christmas music from Saturday's concert, which will come out next autumn. And even before that, on December 13th, the CD of the oratorio 'Messiah in America' which was recorded earlier this year will be out. I can't wait to get my copy and listen to all that glorious music over and over. Can't wait!