'Tis the season for Christmas concerts. Whether or not you have children of your own, chances are good you have or will be attending at least one school or another this season to watch a young family member perform in a Christmas concert. From high school band concerts to the elementary school musicals, every production begins with a music teacher, at least six weeks of dedicated time for practice, and, of course, teamwork from both the teachers and the students.

Holly Butz has been teaching music at Souris School for 21 years, and at Haig School for five years. She has also been working with the Weyburn Comp Choirs.

Butz said choosing a play first begins with considering who the leaders are in each classroom and finding a play that will show off their strengths as a group and as individuals.

"We then highlight each classroom with a song or a dance or a poem within the play," Butz explained. "Everyone gets a chance to shine on stage."

"The students look forward to finding out what the play will be how they will contribute," she noted. "The excitement and enthusiasm meter goes way up in the music room when it comes to beginning rehearsals for the concert at the beginning of December."

Kendra Gonczy, who now teaches music as well as Kindergarten at Assiniboia Park Elementary School (APES), said with this being her first year as a music teacher, the process began in November.

"I actually called in the big guns," she said. "I called in my mom, Colleen Weimer, to help me a little bit, because she has done many Christmas concerts."

Jennelle Wimmer teaches Kindergarten at Queen Elizabeth School, and also co-manages the school's music programs. She said they manage to come up with a new play each year. However, this year she was running out of new ideas, so she reached out to a fellow music colleague.

"She graciously shared an excellent concert called Elflandia with me, it was one that she had prepared in the past with one of her schools," Wimmer shared.
 
She said she often offers the homeroom teachers options of what songs their class will sing, which they practice in their individual classrooms.

"After the teachers have introduced the words and the tune with the kids, then I wheel a piano around to each classroom and practice while our administrator or other teachers cover my kindergarten classroom," she explained.

"A few days before the concert is crunch time, so I usually come in on one of my off-K days and focus just on music practice for an afternoon."

Wimmer said they always practice a whole school song to sing at the end of the concert, which involves rehearsing in the gym with everyone.

Of course, Christmas concerts wouldn't be possible without the help of the teachers.

"The teachers help out a lot," said Gonczy. "They work on their choral speaking or their speaking lines, and they work on the actions of the songs. I saw the kids quite a few times during the week so I got to work a lot with them on the songs, but teachers help out wherever they can, getting them organized, getting their costumes on them, making sure they do their actions properly, so it's definitely a group effort, everyone helps out." 

"I love Christmas concert, I know our staff looks forward to it. We all come together and we work as a team," Gonczy continued. "The kids watch each other, and we watch each other in the gym all the time. It's a great thing to work towards because it's about the only time that Kindergartens and Grade Sixes are doing something together on stage like that, so I know I always enjoy it as a teacher and I think a lot of our staff does as well."

"It becomes a whole school-wide project as it all comes together," said Butz. "Classrooms supporting each other, building connections, and working towards the production. There is a focused excitement and energy that comes from the students all singing together. It's like they sing with their whole bodies all the way from the tips of their toes to the tops of their heads. The joy they bring is the most rewarding part of the job."

After all, children with a reluctance to perform is a rarity.

"I think most kids do perform when it's for a crowd, they just love to be up there and more often than not they're going to perform really well," Gonczy said. "But our kids perform a lot of different places. We're very lucky, our school is full of a lot of passionate kids who just love music through and through and I try to pick some songs that everyone can do and I would say most of our kids sing, if not all of them, so they just love it."

While some want to be in front of the microphone, Wimmer noted if there are kids who don't love singing, they always have the option of a speaking role instead.

"We might have a soloist or two, but most often we usually sing whole group songs and there are mics on stage picking up everyone's voice," Wimmer said.

Butz said the proud moments are particularly rewarding, such as with a student who had been hesitant to speak a line on their own.

"With the support of their classmates and teachers, they realize they're able to do it and they get that sparkle in their eye as their confidence grows," she shared. "Or a student who is new to the school, finds friendship and connection through working with new classmates on the movements to the songs."

With pre-performance jitters not being limited to the students, Butz said the concerns about the sound system, performers being absent or forgetting their cues or movements, or whether or not there will be enough seating, are all abated when someone offers to help set up lights, pin a costume, or tape down cords.

Wimmer said the best part for the students is that they get to show off for their families.

"To the parents, I encourage everyone to try their best to make it to the concert," she said. "The kids practice so hard and they are always so excited to share what we've been practicing with the people that they love on our concert day."

For Butz, it's come full circle now that she's teaching choir to high school students at Weyburn Comprehensive School.

"It has been wonderful reconnecting with students I taught in elementary school, and getting to know others who share a love of music as well," Butz commented.

Given that Weyburn has at least six in-school music teachers, Gonczy noted the value of living in a place that ensures music programs.

"Not a lot of schools have the music program, and the [students] notice it," she said. "It's pretty nice that we offer it to the students. They get a lot of music in their life here, and that's pretty awesome."

Enjoy a gallery of photos, including some candid ones, from the APES musical 'Santa University', the WCS choirs and bands, the St. Michael School K-3 Christmas concert mass ceremony, the Souris School musical, 'Santa's Holiday Playlist', the Queen Elizabeth School performance of, 'Elflandia', and the Haig School performance of, 'The Greatest Snowman'.