PROUD TO BE AMERICAN

Suzanna and Abigail have been excited for today to come: they were both featured singers in their elementary school music program, performed once this afternoon for the school and again this evening for parents, grandparents, and truly dedicated friends and neighbors. The gymnasium isn't a patron-friendly venue for artistic events. Unless we get a spot in the very first row, we're pretty much guaranteed to miss a lot because so many of the children will be hidden from view by all the backs-of-heads of others in the audience. I arrived earlier than usual to stake out a spot near the front because both Suzanna and Abigail were featured singers in a couple numbers, and we wanted a good position from which to snap pics and shoot video.

It was all for naught; we still ended up sitting several rows from the front, right behind a man who spent a great deal of time leaning to his right to coax his spoiled brat of a granddaughter to come to him, then sitting up, then leaning over to try again, all of this done ad infinitum, continuously blocking my view of the goings-on. Aargh!

Anyhoo, we enjoyed hearing the program (and seeing what precious little we could), a tribute to American patriotism with every decoration and costume in red, white, or blue. We were proud as punch of our daughters' singing, too. For each song, the music teacher, Mrs. Selle, assigned "solos" to several children to sing together (so, what part of "solo" doesn't she get?). Suzanna and another girl sang their "solo" in unison for one song, and Abigail and two other girls sang their "solo" in unison for another. I asked each daughter to say a little something about the experience:

ABIGAIL: In Proud to Be American, I was a soloist for "Heart of America." I sang a solo part along with Chelsea and Michaela. In one of the songs were strobe lights and a fog machine. It was a different mix of the pledge that we say every day, and it was called "Allegiance Rap." It was a very, very exciting and wonderful program, and I was very, very pleased at both of the performances.

SUZANNA: I sang a solo part in the song "American Tears." The chorus says, "For the heroes, for the patriots, for the soldiers, for all the pioneers . . ." It's to show how many people in our nation give their lives to help ours. I held up a sign in our song "Fifty Nifty," a song about all the 50 states. The program was really, really fun. It made a record of 15 songs in one performance! Mrs. Selle usually does five songs plus speaking parts, and this year she didn't choreograph one dance (because there were too many songs). I really am going to miss Mrs. Selle and her programs next year when I'm at Berg Elementary School because I know that Mrs. Selle won't be there making the play much more fun than it really seems. However, I think that next year we'll probably have really good performances, too, even without Mrs. Selle directing them.

From my less-than-ideal position, and with Hillary balanced on my lap (limited seating in the gymnasium) and knocking into my arm occasionally, I did manage to capture both songs on video. Enjoy!

"American Tears" featuring Suzanna -- Listen for her voice at about the 2:00 mark and again singing counter-melody at about the 4:00 mark. I'll bet you'll be able to pick her out!

"Heart of America" featuring Abigail -- Be on the alert at about the 1:40 mark. Abigail's harder to pick out because she's not standing directly in front of the microphone.