In a frantically busy week, I can say in all honesty that one of the things I enjoyed the very most was playing piano for my wife’s choir concert at Schulte Elementary School – and I’m not just saying it because she often reads my blog. I really had a blast, partly because I’m not having to deal with anything in seven flats or six sharps or three-against-two rhythm. It’s just simple, energetic music that I get to play with lots of gusto. And I know that I’m helping out my wife, and after all she does to keep my personal and professional boat afloat, it feels good to send a favor her direction once in awhile. And it certainly does my heart good to walk into the rehearsal room and have a chorus of elementary students call out to me “Hello, Mr. Berg!” and seem genuinely happy to see me.
The program the choir did was a John Jacobson concoction called “The Adventures of Lewis and Clark” – which does a nice job of explaining a bit about these early explorers of North America. The cast of characters included, of course, Lewis and Clark – or, as one of them kept suggesting in an increasingly irritated voice, “Clark and Lewis!” – plus their Indian guide Sacajawea, her husband Charbonneau, plus assorted solders and aides, and even such notable figures in history such as Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon. This was a production complete with coon skin caps and buckskin outfits – to say nothing of the energy that only elementary students can bring to such an undertaking. But what mattered most is that the kids sang SO well, singing confidently and energetically without yelling ! What was especially impressive was that the group which showed up to sing the evening performance was about half the size of the group that sang the in-school performance that afternoon, but you would never have guessed it from the amount of sound they produced. Incredible.
The picture above captures a really nice moment during the evening concert. The kids would be standing to sing each of their eight songs- but between songs, Kathy would allow them to quietly be seated, so they could more easily listen to the skit being done on the big stage next door. I love the photograph above because it shows us a sea of faces- – – and almost every face seems to indicate the person in in very very deep thought, deeply absorbed in the story of Lewis and Clark, of all things!
Or should I say Clark and Lewis!