Monday, December 12, 2011

Preschool Christmas Rehearsal

So about this time every year I get a phone call from the preschool department at my church asking if I will play the piano for the annual preschool Christmas program. The children range in age from 2 - 5 years. The 1 year olds are wheeled in on the last song in one of those multiple children strollers.
Today was dress rehearsal and so the kids were dressed as angels, sheep stars, shepherds etc and there was a lot of excitement. Seated at the piano I could see only the children on the top stairs at the front of the church. The piano was blocking my view of the children on the bottom steps. Mary Liz, the choir director, gives me a nod and I begin to play. About halfway through the song I hear a disruption but continue playing as about half of the children are still singing. At the end of the song I glance up to see the choir director's son, Patrick, being comforted by his mom and some of the other teachers. Patrick had somersaulted down about 3 carpeted stairs and had a bloody nose. His mother left to administer first aid and the practice begins again with other teachers filling in. Jingle bells are handed out to the children to play for "Jingle Bells". I begin the song but sense another disruption. Some of the kids are still singing and afraid of losing my place I keep going. When we finish I find that another mishap has taken place out of my view. One of the children had gotten his jingle bell stuck in his mouth. Luckily the bell was attached to a handle and one of the teachers was able to dislodge the stuck bell. We had made it to the end of the dress rehearsal with one bloody nose and one unstuck jingle bell!

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