Annual elementary holiday programs packs?em in

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Elementary students were dressed in Christmas attire and their parents, family and friends were packed to the rafters for Onaway Elementary School?s 2009 holiday program Wednesday night in the high school gym.

The theme was ?Christmas Around the World,? with kindergarten through fourth grade singing one song each, before the fifth grade concluded the program with three Christmas standards.

With Millersburg Elementary School closing at the end of the last school year, there were a lot more students to work with, and according to band director Lexie Signor, the effect was positive from a musical standpoint.

?WE ?VE GOT lots of kids that are enthused about music, show up every day, have fun and create wonderful sounds for everyone else to listen to,? said Signor, following the concert. She was extremely pleased with the way the fifth graders had the gym cleaned up and every thing in its place in the band room.

?They are an outstanding group,? she said. ?We?ve seen better numbers than we have in the last two years, almost the last two years combined. It?s nice to have diverse instrumentation and they are a group of go-getters.? The songs performed were ?Good King Wenceslas,? ?Jolly Old St. Nicholas? and ?Jingle Bells.?

THE SONGS sung by the younger students, and the countries they represent, are as follows: kindergart

en, ?Deck the Halls,? (Wales); first-grade, ?Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella,? (France); second-grade, ?Buon Natale,? (Italy); third grade, ?O Tannenbaum,? (Germany); and fourth-grade, ?Mele Kalikimaka,? (United States, Hawaii).

?This is the first year Onaway has offered music to students kindergarten all the way through fifth grade,? said Signor. ?Our goal is that all students can read music and notate music by the time they get to fifth grade band.?

Signor said there isn?t a lot of time to do more than one song and one verse. She said, ?I see the entire student body within a two week cycle.?

Jacob Barnby provided piano accompaniment. The annual holiday band concert is Monday at the OHS gym, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

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