Petite Choir

Friday was my third teaching day at Petite School, and I finally got to meet my after school choir. It has nine kids for now, but I'm confident I can make it grow as the other kids in the school get to know me and see that the choir is doing some great, fun music.

After my two-hour rehearsal, I stopped by Dr. Boss's office. She asked me how things went. I laughed and said, "I had this great lesson plan. It was filled with all kinds of great things about healthy singing, and I even copied a song and planned to go into great detail with it. Then I met these kids and...ZOOM."

Dr. Boss just laughed. "You're learning them!"

Yes. What I'm learning is that what would take two hours in a public school takes about 45 minutes at Petite School. These kids are quick.

I asked them what kind of music they want to do. I believe in giving students some buy-in to a choir program. Of course, I'm always insistent that they do the "old, boring" stuff, too. These kids are begging for world songs, Broadway music, maybe some Disney (if it's not the babyish stuff) and yes, even some classical music.

I just grinned at them and said, "I love this! That's exactly what I had planned."

Dr. Boss mentioned the upcoming Spaghetti Dinner in a few weeks, and asked if I'd be willing to have a few songs for the kids to sing. "Maybe something like 'That's Amore,'" she said.

"Yes!" I ran with it, also suggesting "Santa Lucia" and "Bella Notte" from Lady and the Tramp. I can just picture them singing these songs for the families as they eat spaghetti, and I can't wait to see them again on Friday to dig into the songs I've found.

How I've missed this.