Students, teachers, parents, grandparents, family and friends packed Mary Eliot Chapel yet again for this year’s Beasley Lower School Winter Program. All Lower School students, Junior Kindergartners through 4th graders, performed songs representative of a variety of holidays and the winter season with direction from Lower School music teachers Barb Spieler and Kathy Norvell. Students sang songs, gestured dramatically and expressively, and even provided musical accompaniment.
Reflecting on the concert, Mrs. Spieler shared, “The Beasley Winter Program offers a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the traditions that bind families and communities together. Our Beasley musicians shared pieces about Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Diwali, Christmas and Kwanzaa. One of the highlights was hearing violinists Abby S. ’30 and Evan R. ’31 accompany the Beasley Chorus in an Arabic song that honors mothers everywhere. The traditional ending, a lovely song of peace, incorporated many of the languages spoken by our MICDS families. The Beasley students loved sharing their musical gifts with our community.”
As in years past, the program ended with a crowd favorite, “Peace The Whole World Over.” Each verse of the song used the word “peace” in a language spoken by one of our MICDS families. This year, it was sung in Japanese, Spanish, Hindi, French, Hebrew, Korean and Arabic. To top it off, Head of School Jay Rainey played the piano accompaniment for this finale of the concert to the delight of students and families alike. What a joyous way to begin Winter Break!
The live stream video of the entire program is available online and a downloadable program is also available.