Last night I attended not one but TWO school music programs. Middle school band concert and 3rd grade music program. Here are my observations:
Middle School Band
1. There is nothing quite like standing along the wall of a crowded gymnasium watching and listening to middle schoolers try to behave.
2. 6th grade band still sounds like a bunch of kids that think they want to be in band but haven’t quite recognized that not every one of them should be in possession of a musical instrument.
3. 7th grade band sounds remarkably better than 6th grade band. I was actually astonished at how much better they sounded.
4. I have no idea how the 8th grade band sounded (though I’m sure it was lovely) because the band instructor kindly let my 7th grader leave after her performance so we could get to her brother’s elementary school music program.
Elementary School Music Program
1. When you ask kids in 2nd and 3rd grade to dress in their holiday best for a school music program you get a lot of little girls in adorable dresses and bows. You get a lot of boys in sweaters and jeans with sneakers. (Though there were at least two boys there in full suit – quite handsome… mine was not one of them of course, he wanted to wear the t-shirt from Christmas wrestling camp because “it’s Christmas colors.”)
2. Young children still enjoy an excuse to climb down from their risers and grab an instrument – maracas, bells, boomwhackers (that’s what J played/whacked).
3. The music teacher was out of her ever-loving mind by asking the 2nd graders to do a dance. Don’t get me wrong, it was cute but at 7/8 not a single one of them was excited about it. There was a lot of blushing and sheepish looks and one little boy kept looking over his shoulder at his parents with a distinct “GET ME OUT OF HERE” look in his eyes. I’m glad my kid is in 3rd grade or we might have had a music program mutiny.
In both cases you had the usual assortment of parents video taping every second of the performance. That’s 30-60 minutes they will want to watch from start to finish, over and over and over again I’m certain. Especially the one parent at the middle school concert who was sitting on the floor and whose three year old kept climbing all over her while she was recording. Between the jostling of the camera and the extreme close-ups of the preschooler’s face, it might be the most entertaining video of all time.
I have to admit, I love school music programs. There’s so much people-watching to do. And I enjoy watching my children as they do something they enjoy… or do something that they are being dragged into forcefully – both are pretty entertaining.
quick like a bunny! 
I record Tommy’s preschool programs just so I can share it with my coworkers and we can laugh at how much 3/4 year olds behave like our students. Then I delete it. I have no conceptual idea why other parents record them, but sure enough, they elbow each other out of the way to do so.
Wait until you get to high school and you get to listen to bands that the kids have to audition to get in. Amazing.
At the middle school orchestra concert I went to on Monday, there was a parent/grandparent of a 7th grader with an extremely large head who sat in front of me. He was also 7 feet tall and felt the need to move from side I side frequently. Blocking my view and forcing me to only record the 8th grade cellos on my cell phone. Mainly because I refuse to stand up in the back and be obvious about my recording. Most of my recording on Monday was of the very large head in my way (you can look at my YouTube videos for proof). 🙂 (and also, it IS amazing how much better they sound each year)