Kids from all over the county are prepping for their annual holiday music programs. And in coming weeks they will don their best seasonal colors of red, white and green and usher audiences into the holiday with song.
School Christmas programs have always been a favorite of mine. As a grade school pupil at Cherry Knoll in Traverse City, I remember music teacher Helen Callison getting us ready for the big night. In middle and high school, I was involved in the music program at Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools, which , as you can imagine, opened a whole library of religious selections. For several of those years, I sang with the choir under the direction of Ed Hahnenberg of Lake Leelanau. In addition to performing concerts, we had a “goodwill” tour, in which we traveled to nursing facilities to share seasonal favorites. We also sang at holiday parties for community groups, such as the Elks Club in Traverse City.
To this day, I can sing the alto parts for many of our selections.
