Many concerts have been virtual this year, but we have been able to attend a couple, like watching Ivory at the Maker's Market. June's first choir performance was on video, but the next one was in person. Yay! The kids still had to sing with masks, but they sounded great.
June has really loved being in choir this semester and I can tell that her voice has gotten better. Also, she is better at picking out the alto part and singing harmony. Here is the Con Brio group. All girls. Bet you can't pick out June.
Here is a close up. She is middle right.
The girls sang so well. My favorite number was Peace, Peace, where there is a harmony sung with Silent Night. It is one of the numbers I like to sing when we go caroling.
The concert was divided into two parts so the auditorium could accommodate families, but not too many at once. The first part featured Concert Choir, Con Brio, Motive, and Man Choir. Motive is a select group of kids that sing really well. It is a fun group. I know several of the kids in there including Steven, who is sadly not our neighbor anymore since he moved.
Man Choir sang one of my favorite numbers. It was called Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas). I was saddened to find out it came from Sponge Bob, but the song was still funny.
Now for a concert of a different variety. Robyn and Daisy had a piano recital, but because of Covid (always COVID!) they decided to do a virtual recital. That is actually really great for these gals because that meant they could record multiple times; no on-the-spot stress.
At least that is how it should have been, except that we forgot to record until the day the video was due. So it was still a little rushed. Robyn wasn't thrilled with her performance (there are a few mistakes) but I still think it was great.
Daisy sat down and did her song in one run. She had that thing memorized.
For the actual recital, it was just a big Zoom call and we watched everyone's videos. It was a lovely relaxing evening and we didn't even have to leave our house. So, thanks Covid. (That is somewhat sarcastic, but you can still find the silver lining.)
I look forward to typical concerts, but I can enjoy my kids talents year round.
It is time for another Junior High play! I thought it was rather ambitious for the drama department to try and put on a play this year. I'm very proud of them for risking it and allowing the kids to have this experience. They knew they were going to lose money from the get go. And who knew if the play could even be performed, what with Covid regulations changing weekly.
But they went for it. In previous years, pretty much every kid who auditioned was accepted. This year, they strictly kept the number to 50, even though at least 100 kids auditioned. I don't envy the job of cutting kids. That must have been hard. Ivory was actually called back for a possible lead, but in the end, both Daisy and Ivory were ensemble. I love ensemble. All the fun, but no stress.
Ivory was a Brainiac and Daisy was a Thespian, so they rehearsed on separate days. That also worked out well. Robyn did High School Musical Junior 2 when she was in school, so it was fun to see the other girls do the original High School Musical Junior.
Let's jump right in. Have you seen the movie? Very cheesy and pretty cute, I think. (Maybe just because I love Zac Efron.) Go Wildcats!!
Troy and Gabriela meet at a ski retreat over Christmas Break where they sing together and find they love it. (The singing and the together part.)
When school is back in session, Gabriela happens to move to Troy's school. Surprise! The kids are walking around saying Hi again after break. Daisy is giving Sharpay a hug. They are friends in the play and friends in real life. That is nice. And yes, they are all wearing face shields. Better than masks when you need to hear them clearly.
The school is pretty cliquish and seems to be divided into three groups. You have the jocks and cheerleaders in the middle.
Then the thespians.
And the brainiacs. You know...all the smart kids.
I'm not going to follow this story as closely as you'd like. If you want to really know what happens, go watch it on Disney+. For now, I'll follow my kids. Daisy is in the scene where detention is happening but then it morphs into auditions for the school musical. You get some pictures and some video. I was really happy to see Daisy jumping around. This was only a couple weeks after her appendectomy. She hadn't done much activity, but after watching her at the play, I knew she couldn't get out of doing her chores at home any more. :)
One of my favorite scenes is when Troy is trying to figure out what he wants to do and he sings about getting his head in the game. I like that the basketballs were black. Also, Ivory's good friend Isaac was cast as Coach Bolton, but he got Covid at the wrong time and missed the entire play. That is a bummer. But they had a great guy fill in.
It is fun to see the girls in little extra moments on the side or moving around as part of the school crowds.
Now for one of the best numbers they did that involved the whole cast: Stick to the Status Quo. Annie did a great job as Sharpay. She is not a brat in real life, but she has plenty of sass.
The brainiacs have a great song where they are trying to convince Gabriela to give up on Troy and singing and just be smart and lead their science decathlon team. (Really true friends.) Ivory holds the chair so Gabriela doesn't die.
Here's a quick shout out to Jada, who played Kelsie. I don't have a lot of pictures of her, but she did a great job. She also ACTUALLY played the piano for some of the parts. It was really beautiful. Good job Jada!
Um...so where are we in the story. Gabriela and Troy decided to audition together, but now they can't because the championship basketball game and the science decathlon are scheduled for the same time as the auditions. Bad luck you two. Troy goes to play basketball and who is he playing, but Ivory!
Yes, she got to be a member of the rival team, the Wolves! They had some fun scenes and it was very handy that the hoop always threw the ball back.
At the same time, Sharpay and Ryan are doing their audition. Fun fact, the kids that played these two are actually brother and sister. They did a really fantastic job.
Spoiler: Turns out, the lights go out and Troy and Gabriela run off to audition. Of course they get the part because the show wouldn't be very good if they didn't. And the Wolves didn't win. Sorry Wolves. Good game though.
The end. Because no one really cares what happens after they win the audition. Everyone come bow.
It was a really great cast. These kids worked really hard and despite the show being delayed and a couple people missing, they pulled it off.
It only ran three nights. Night one, Daisy lost a tooth! Can you see that gap under her face shield?
We would all have gone that night, but June worked. So only most of us went.
Look at these cute girls. They are all really good friends. I'm so happy Ivory has a great group of supportive chicas.
Night two only I went, but it was just as fun.
Closing night came quickly (with only three shows) and the kids were so appreciative of the directors who put this all together. (I'm thankful too!)
June came that night. And the cast got fun shirts that went with their clique. One drama club and one brainiac.
There you have it. I feel like Covid didn't win this won. There was team spirit and the show went on. (Maybe not for Isaac, but for everyone else.)
Ivory got to participate in a new thing this year. Because of the pandemic, many businesses have suffered, and especially small businesses, like the crafters around town. There was a small Farmer's market that ran September through October, but the majority of craft fairs have been shut down.
A local business decided to try and spur some holiday revenue, so they hosted a Christmas Maker's Market. It was the first of its kind. There were booths with vendors, but there was also food trucks, Santa, and live entertainment.
Ivory participated in this last part. Her choir group at school signed up to sing several numbers at the market. So we all tried to attend and listen.
There were some sound issues and the mikes weren't that great at the beginning. Ivory's choir sang Carol of the Bells, but you could really only hear the altos. (That is nice, the altos are not usually spotlighted.) I decided not to put video on here because it wasn't the best but here is Ivory singing.
There were some fun solo numbers by the girls. Those were probably my favorite, but Ivory didn't do one. She was over socializing with her friends. I'm glad she is a social butterfly.
It was really cold that day. We didn't stay too long at the market because we were freezing. But we did get to see some fun things. Robyn and I wandered around together. We met Johan Twiss, a local author. He told us some Dad jokes and was disappointed that we knew most of them. (I am married to a pretty good dad joker.) His books looked very interesting and Robyn loved the morphed animal art. He gave us a free one to take home.
June and Ivory found some other interesting items. These wooden ornaments are pretty funny.
Most stuff was outside. but there was an indoor area with gingerbread houses. I abhor making gingerbread houses, but I can certainly admire the work others have done. These were my favorites.
We also saw Olaf and Anna. The guy who did Olaf's actions and voice was dedicated. He would not break character at all. Good for him, but annoying when you want to know how the puppeteering works.
It was a very fun afternoon, albeit cold. We left with some cute holiday earrings. Can one have too many holiday earrings? I don't think so. Especially not when there are so many pierced ears around here.
