Massive Holiday program

[bkrsmn]

This is my first year teaching music and we are working on a holiday program. I would like to have about 60 kids on stage for one song. Do you think this is feesable if I had sufficient staging? We won't be practicing all together every music class, only at the dress rehersals. It has been suggested to me to rethink this idea, but I am not sure if it is because no one wants to take on the task and it is something new for the teachers or if it will be worth my while to stand my ground. I am just looking for some experienced opinions :) Thank you!

[Chef Dave]

Unless you have a really big stage, 60 kids on a stage is ambitious. Unless you use choral risers, you won't be able to see more than the first rank of students. The risers will also take time for the stagehands to move if there's a play or some other production that's scheduled to follow your music class.

What about this as an alternate idea? Put choral risers in front of the stage and have the kids stand on the risers. On row could stand above the risers at the edge of the stage.

[Boxcar]

I've seen it done at the high school level.

I'd have that song at the end of the show or right before intermission. This is so that the risers can be dealt with.

The song should be relatively easy one. It is likely that your kids are all at different levels of abiltiy. Also, if you aren't meeting a lot as a group, don't do anything like a round. You'll likely regret it.

Don't do this with very young children. They won't like it very much.

Good luck.

[mopar]

My elementary school always did a production like that. Each class learned the songs separately and then we all sang together for the winter holiday assembly. We did stand on risers. Sometimes, different classes would sit down to show case another class or certain students from each class. And the teacher had a quick direction, she would point at the classes and lower her hand to get different classes to sit. I worked well and the parents loved it. I also know that it alleviated some of the stage fright!!

[leafy seadragon]

We had 240 kids on stage for the mass choir in our district in June. It was fabulous and the sound was great. The school choirs all rehearsed individually at the their school and then we had two mass dress rehearsals.
You just need to have the staging right and the kids all lined up so they can go on in an orderly fashion. They should be watching you as the conductor, so they should file in and out no problem. It's a very good idea to have them on a the very end or before intermission if you can't leave the risers on stage. They do get hot under the lights though, so don't leave them there too long. We always have a couple who get sick.

[kingrichie]

Last year 2 fifth grade classes did a Rock n' Roll Christmas theme. We had about 70 kids sing 4 songs to rock n' roll music. We practiced for an hour at the end of every day for about 3 weeks before the performance. It started off slow, as expected, but it went off great.

[teach1027]

I think it is a great idea. You would have to use risers, but I think it would be worth it. If all the kids know the song, then it should not be a big deal that you don't practice all the time. Good luck.