The annual Primary Concert at our Junior School is one of the highlights of the holiday season for students, parents and staff. This year's show, called 'Holiday Memories', featured our Kindergarten through Grade 2 students performing Christmas carols, Hanukkah songs, song parodies, a French song and some classic holiday music.
For some students, these shows marked their first time ever performing on stage for classmates, parents and grandparents. It was evident that weeks of hard work was worth it, as the two performances went off without a hitch and the singing, dancing and music was all great!
The show began with Grade 1 students singing "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas", "Chipmunk Song" and "Blue Christmas", followed by our Grade 2 students performing "The First Snowfall", "Our Good Principal Looked Out" and "Dreidel, Dreidel". The Kindergarten classes then performed "The Mitten", which was nursery rhymes inspired by the popular Christmas story of the same name. All three grades then came together to sing the final pieces: "Vive Le Vent" and "Silent Night".
Congratulations to all of our young performers. Thank you to Mr. Christopher Smith (musical director), Ms. Jane Edler-Davis (accompanist) and all of the other Junior School staff, teachers and parents for helping make the show a success.
Primary Student Reflections
“The Christmas Concert is like doing caroling in the gym for our grandparents and parents. My favourite part is doing caroling because I like singing carols. I like performing because we get to play kazoos and do actions. I sang four songs: I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Blue Christmas, Silent Night and Vive le Vent.” – Oliver, Grade 1
“I like being in the Christmas Concert because I’ve never been in one before. It’s great that so many people to get to watch it. My favourite song is Silent Night because it’s calm and I never get to have calm because my brother always shouts.” – Sway, Kindergarten
“The Christmas Concert is where we sing and I talk because I’m an emcee. We tell everybody what song is coming up next and all about the songs. I like singing Our Good Principal Looked Out because it talks about our principal, Mrs. Anderson, and it’s a version of Good King Wenceslas. I was excited before the concert because I think it would be fun to speak in front of lots of people, but I was also kind of nervous. It was fun.” – Rhys, Grade 2
“I like singing Vive le Vent and The First Snowfall. I like Vive le Vent because I like to sing in French sometimes. And I like The First Snowfall because it’s really tender and it’s sort of like a lullaby. My favourite part is the end because all of your parents are proud of you and sometimes they take you out for a treat. I don’t get nervous on stage because I just look at my mom and my dad and I pretend it’s just me on stage and it's just them out there.” – Kayleigh, Grade 2
“I like when we get to play kazoos in the middle of I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. The kazoos are fun because you get to blow them and they make a vibrating sound. When we do the kazoos we march eight times and blow the kazoo. It was kind of tough at first but now I know how to do it.” – Eben, Grade 1
“I felt really nervous because I have stage fright and I didn’t like when the lights dimmed but it was nice when everybody clapped. I like singing Blue Christmas because I think it’s a silly song when we sing low: ‘I’ll have a blue Christmas,’ and one of my favourite colours is blue.” – Sienna, Grade 1
“The Christmas Concert is the best in the world because singing is fun. I like singing Vive le Vent because it’s nice to practice singing it.” – Lucas, Kindergarten
“At first, I felt nervous, then the show started going and it was fun. And then at the end I was waving like crazy to my mom and my grandma and I was having a good time. I want to go on stage again! I like singing Silent Night and Chipmunk Song because in Silent Night we get to do actions, and for Chipmunk Song I get to sing, 'Me, I want a hula hoop!' Sometimes I forgot the words when we’re singing Blue Christmas so I pretend I’m singing but then I sing it in my head to try to remember the words.” – Aanya, Grade 1
More photos from the Primary Concert can be found on the SMUS Photo Gallery.
