A Sorry Christmas Concert

By Christine Thackeray

As you each go to your children's Christmas concerts this time of year, I thought you'd get a kick out of this sad story. Last night we went to the Middle School Christmas Concert. At one point each set of instruments were introduced and played a little Christmas Carol.

First, the large flute section played "Angels We Have Heard on High." They were fabulous (but I may be a little prejudice- my daughter was among them.) Then the trumpets blared "The First Noel" and so on. Well, when it was time for the french horns there was only two of them. One girl was to play the melody of "Carol of the Bells" and a boy did the "ding, dong" counter melody.

They began and it was the most painfully horrible rendition I had ever sat through. If the girl hit a single note correctly I'd be surprised. The little boy playing the "ding dongs" was right on but couldn't figure out where she was in the piece because the notes she was playing weren't even recognizable. I was surprised that the director had forced both her and us to endure such torture.

After the concert my daughter told me that the little girl who played the french horn had worked very hard to get the part down perfectly, but had gotten braces the day before. Every note she played was agony as the instrument put pressure against her torn mouth and gums. Suddenly, the sound of the music totally changed in my mind. I was touched by her bravery and my heart went out to her. Once again I was reminded that when I see things I don't like or agree with, I should be careful not to judge quite so quickly.