What are you going to do with your brave and loving light today?
This question was asked by Lower School Music Teacher Dr. Katy Nichols as she welcomed a packed audience and kicked off the annual Beasley Winter Program on Thursday, December 14. It was the perfect spark to the start of the show as the theme of the 2023 Lower School production was “Celebrations of Light.”
“I want to celebrate the most beautiful light, the light that each of these children have,” Dr. Nichols elaborated. “We all have light inside of us. It’s not like a candle, but it’s an inside light that helps us to feel brave and helps us do more good. We can bring our lights together. We do that when we help each other, when we take care of each other, and when we stand up for what’s right. In those moments, we bring our little lights together to make a bigger, brighter more powerful light. We cannot wait to share our brave and loving lights with each other, with our families, friends, teachers, and the MICDS school community. What a special gift that we will all take part in together this afternoon!”
Without further ado, the program began much to the delight of a dazzled audience. For the past semester, Lower Schoolers have worked hard to memorize lyrics, speaking parts, and choreography. They learned how to perform as ensembles, sing in unison, and sing in multiple parts. They also practiced challenging instrumentation. It was finally time to be in the spotlight and wow their families, friends, and entire MICDS community.
Beasley shined bright with their opening song, the One Voice Children’s Choir arrangement of Diamonds by Masa Fukada. Many of the Lower Schoolers practiced this song every day at home leading up to the program. There was a group solo sung by fourth graders and the whole school sang in two parts. The fourth graders made beautiful starlights under the direction of Lower School Visual Arts Teacher Sarah Garner. They did beautiful choreography with these lights. After the song, many Lower School teachers gathered the lights to hang them on special displays which were featured for the remainder of the show.
The “Celebrations of Light” show contained songs from many traditions that celebrate light. Third and fourth grade sang a lovely song about Hanukkah, Eight Lights of Hanukkah/Shalom Chaverim. Some third graders made a human menorah as they sang the song.
Junior Kindergarten and Senior Kindergarten brought down the house with solos and choreography to the spiritual This Little Light of Mine. They also learned about the German origin of the tradition of the Christmas Tree with O Christmas Tree/O Tannenbaum.
Second-grade students sang beautifully on their song Aeyaya Balano Sakkad, a song written in the Konkani language of the Indian State of Goa to celebrate Diwali. The children made colorful diya candles in art class and learned about Diwali in both music and art.
First and second graders sang I See the Moon and Holiday Lights together. I See the Moon was a song that Dr. Nichols wanted to do with students for several years and it fit in perfectly with this year’s program theme. “One of my friends who graduated with me in my Masters of Music Education program, Douglas Beam, composed the song,” shares Dr. Nichols. “He is a gifted songwriter and has composed several songs for children’s choir. I am looking forward to sharing our students’ performance with him.” Holiday Lights had the children using finger lights and celebrating the light of winter holidays.
Fourth graders worked really hard on the barred instruments and hand chimes to play 12 variations of The Ukrainian Bell Carol/Carol of the Bells. “I wanted a piece to feature the fourth graders and their excellent mallet skills as well as use our hand chimes,” Nichols added. “This song was the perfect piece to do that. I have been so proud of our fourth graders and their ensemble skills for this piece. They had to truly listen, focus, and be prepared on difficult parts to make this song successful.”
Then, our fourth graders sang Kusimama, a song that means “I stand tall on the earth with hope and positivity.” This song was song in two parts and required a lot of body percussion throughout the song. The third- and fourth-grade Beasley Choir rocked it! They also had Upper School djembe and shaker players accompany them.
The third- and fourth-grade students learned a song in Arabic this year, Hazrat Bibi Maryam: A Song for Peace. The song repeats the phrase, “Asalaam Aleikhum” which means, “peace be with you.” All third and fourth graders learned the dance that accompanies the song, and then 4th grade volunteers performed in the Winter Program.
They then ended the song with the lovely MICDS tradition, Circle the Earth (With Peace). Accompanied on the piano by Head of School Jay Rainey, second graders shared heritage languages and the full MICDS Lower School sang about circling the earth with peace in those languages.
What a bright way to finish the last day of first semester and get into the holiday spirit! A standing ovation goes to Dr. Nichols for teaching our JK-fourth graders all that they showcased in their performance. Thank you to all who helped make the program special! View the full program from the show here, created by Dalton Costick ’26 and Hiba Zamir ’26.
May you have a sparkling Winter Break with tunes from the Beasley Winter Program chiming in your head as the perfect soundtrack to the next two weeks! Bravo, Beasley students!