Don't put on Christmas concerts. And here's why.
You're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbet, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher at the elementary music summit each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher, and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show Notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher.com.
Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. Today, I'm probably going to ruffle some feathers. But I want to talk about why I don't do a Christmas performance. And before but before I get into that, I want to acknowledge the fact that my first ever performance was essentially a Christmas performance. It was a nutcracker musical, which yes is not super like only Christmas, but it's a story about Christmas time. So you know, it definitely has that under those undertones to it. And the reason I've shifted my tune is one I teach in a public school, they even if the majority of the students that I teach are Christian, or celebrate Christmas, that doesn't mean that all of them do or if all of them celebrate in the same way. And even if we have one student that is pulled out because of they might believe something different or have a different religion, that is othering. And that's not okay. Now, I'm not saying that we don't I don't you know, yell at students if they start singing a Christmas song or start talking about Santa. But what I'm saying is, is that I don't make it the kind of focus of my class. But I will also want to be very clear, I don't really do any seasonal music in my classes. I don't do Halloween stuff. Usually I don't really do winter, you know, sometimes I'll do stuff about snow, but like, I don't do seasonal music, period. That's kind of the thing. So yes, or no, I don't put on a performance for Christmas. But I also don't really put on any do any sort of seasonal music in general. So that's just because one I want my repertoire to be evergreen, essentially, meaning I can use it in October, I can use it in April. And it's not like out of place like you know, if we're doing Pumpkin, pumpkin Round and fat turned into what Jacqueline are just like that. Like, that's awesome. I love that song. And honestly, sometimes I will use that song.
But if we're doing that in April, it's not as appropriate. I mean rhythmically and melodically there are definitely some things that I can pull out. But just seasonally and just pick based on the topic, it doesn't doesn't really flow as well. So that's like the main reason why I don't usually use any seasonal music really, is because I want the repertoire that I use to be able to last me throughout the year so I can pull from it whenever I need to. Another reason is we've been talking a lot of our performances this month on the podcast is that I don't want to overcomplicate my performances. In Episode 117, I talk about why I don't put on big fancy performances. And that's because I wouldn't listen to that episode you want to know. But I don't put on a Christmas performance because I want my performances to be demonstrative of what's going on in our classroom rather than like a sing along, or you know, like a performance that has like a camp performance or anything like that. What I do instead is in November, early, late November, early December, whenever the schedule usually falls, we have a third grade performance always been the third grade performance since I started there. And even before me, and what we what we've shifted to do is a folk dance night, which I will be talking about. We're actually you can check it out in Episode 119. I talked about the folk dance night, how I do it, why I do it, all that stuff. But it is so much better. Because everyone gets to interact with it, no matter what. Even if all the students might celebrate Christmas, that doesn't mean they always will. That doesn't mean we might have some we might not have someone move in the week before. And now they're they're sitting in this awkward situation. I have a vivid memory
of me in elementary music class. And there was a student I remember his name, I know where we're sitting, but that's more of who I am as a crazy person. But we were doing Christmas music. We were learning Christmas music. We were singing Christmas songs. Our performance for that year was going to be going to the mall and we went to the mall and we sang Christmas carols. I have a vivid memory of this student getting visibly upset. Every single time we went into music class.
And I remember one time he went off on the teacher because the teacher was like Why aren't you singing and you need to sing. And that he looked at the teacher said I'm an atheist. I don't believe in this.
And yeah, there are people kids that do have very strong opinions like that.
And but they're also going to be some that internalize it and don't say anything. But what they're going to get as the message that they're different, in which differences are fine. But we also need to celebrate those differences rather than kind of assume things.
And I know that I'm gonna ruffle some feathers here. Obviously, if you teach at a at a private school, that's a different story, you're likely have different values that you have instilled on you just based on, you know, if you're at a Catholic school, or a Christian school, or anything like that. But I really believe that if we're in a public school, we need to be a public school where anyone is able to come in and may have high quality music education, because
it's been a long time since that interaction with that student when I was an elementary music class. But that has stuck with me, I think about it every single year on him picking repertoire. And
he was visibly upset for weeks before he said anything.
And then all of a sudden, we figured out why he's been so grumpy on Music Days.
And it goes to show you that
what we do, can sometimes have unintended consequences. I want to be perfectly clear, I believe, I do not believe that there are any music teachers out there that are wanting that are doing music class, or doing Christmas music, specifically, to make other people feel awkward.
But the intention doesn't matter. The actions and the repertoire we choose and what we select and how we present things. That's what matters. The intention doesn't. Because I've made a lot of decisions, my my teaching career that had incredibly awkward, or bad unintended consequences. And I think when we're coming to something so important, like belonging, we need to be incredibly careful and incredibly thoughtful in
who is able to make music in our class? Is it going to be like my experience in that in that at that time of year where that student wasn't able to be musical?
Or are we going to choose repertoire that allows students of all backgrounds to be musical?
For me, that's an easy choice. Um, and again, there's other reasons why I don't do musical, you know, I don't use seasonal repertoire in general. But I think it's important for us to realize that when we are in a public school, we need to make sure that we are accessible to everyone. And that isn't saying we have to cancel Christmas or, you know, not let not not if you know, some start singing Rudolph, we have to, you know, shut it down completely. But what we need to do is make sure that our lessons aren't perpetuating more other feeling. We don't want to other anyone, either intentionally or unintentionally.
That doesn't mean that we can't talk about the way that we're different. That doesn't mean that you can't talk about, you know, if you're going to a Christmas party, like Oh, my goodness, I'm so excited because I get to see my parents, their women do a Christmas party this weekend. It really goes around to what we're focusing on,
and what we are perpetuating when we're selecting Repertorium. I hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of that music podcast. For show notes and all kinds of other things, check out the episode description below. If you enjoyed this episode, we would be really, we would really appreciate it if you would leave a review wherever you're listening. It really helps us understand what we want more of and gives us some feedback so we can grow the podcast. If you haven't already, I'd like to invite you to join me inside of that music teacher community. It is a wonderful community where we get bonus podcast episodes as well as a bunch of bonuses and master classes. And essentially, it's just like growing library of online professional development for elementary music teachers. You can find more about that link in the episode description as well. I hope that you'll join us next week we release episodes every Wednesday. So be sure to mark your calendar so you don't miss any of our wonderful conversations. I know this month we've been talking a lot about performances and we're going to keep that going on through the month of November. With that being said, thank you so much for joining me and I will see you next week on that music podcast.
