Everyone, please remember to practice your choreography a little bit every day. If you don't, you'll totally forget your steps by next Thursday. Practicing a little bit every day is better than waiting for a big block of time to come (which never seems to happen--at least at my house).
According to Mrs. Stuewer, the points system will be in full swing next week. Now, don't make us be the bad guys. Shushing you is not fun for us (it makes us feel like nags), and we won't like giving points either. Here are some ideas to help you stay quiet while you're waiting for your scenes.
- Bring some school work or reading material.
- Bring a quiet, non-messy craft. (Knitting or crocheting comes to mind. A construction project? Glue and glitter? Not-so-much. You get the idea.)
- Mentally work on lines and lyrics for upcoming scenes.
- Learn sign language so you can "talk" to your friends silently. ; )
- Write a letter or draw a picture for your grandma.
- Ask me to work with you on any song notes which are giving you trouble. I'll keep my little keyboard in the 4's & 5' Room after warm-ups, so if I'm not busy working on a scene in the main room, I'd be happy to help you learn your notes.
- Remember that being quiet while others are rehearsing/directing shows love and respect to them. Being loud displays selfishness (or forgetfulness) and disrespect. I know that sounds a little harsh, and I'm sorry, but we can all benefit from remembering the Golden Rule here: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (I'm talking to us moms, too--including myself. It'd be pretty embarrassing if I had to give myself points.)
That being said, I do love watching how well everyone gets along with one another. If anyone ever had any doubts about homeschoolers being socialized, all they'd have to do is attend one of our rehearsals. = )
Now, go practice your dance steps.
6 comments:
Thanks so much for posting this! I was going to make a similar post, but you did it much better than I could have.
Also - parents, please lead by example in this area. I know how important it is to have time to talk with grown-ups, but it is very distracting during rehearsals. Please take your conversations into either the kitchen (with the shutters closed) or the side room with the couches.
Thanks!
Perhaps give each director some duct tape to hand to to offenders... ;)
Just want to ditto that Lindsey did a great job with teaching such a large group of kids!
Regarding the noise level issue, a couple of things come to mind:
~3 hours is a long time to go without talking to friends (recall how "social" our kids are!). Perhaps we could have a 5 or 10 minute break for everyone to relax and chat a bit.
~many of the moms/leaders *need* to talk to other moms and students about many things (ads, costumes, details, etc.)at some point during the rehearsals. Could we designate certain rooms or other parts of the church building as "talk areas"? The kitchen with doors closed and one of the other classrooms were mentioned. Are there other designated areas that would be good "talking and planning" areas?
Well, I know that students aren't supposed to go upstairs without an adult, but I think it'd be okay with one. The coat area is okay too--just a bit chilly. Students aren't supposed to go outside, because they can't hear when they're needed for the next scene.
Perhaps we *could* schedule more breaks. What do you think, Char?
Thanks for the good points, Lisa.
And Bethany, I think masking tape would suffice. ; )
Also, I think once we start practicing at the high school, the noise factor won't be such an issue.
~ Jenny
A couple quick comments -
I have to say no to kids hanging out beyond the bathroom area, even with an adult (except when the upstairs area is needed for rehearsals). I think it would be too easy for that to get out of hand. There are offices upstairs and frequently people working in them. Bethany Church is extremely gracious to allow us to use their facility, and I don't want to abuse the privilege.
I really do appreciate that our kids need time to socialize, but this needs to be first and foremost a rehearsal time. These are the facilities we have, and we need to be able to work within them.
Maybe a break would help, or maybe people could come early for visiting.
However, I think there's a bigger issue here, and if I can organize my thoughts well enough I'll do a separate post on it. Between 2:00 and 2:45, I felt like either I or someone else needed to 'shush' people every 5 minutes. It seemed like the volume would go back up almost immediately. By that time, I think most of the necessary conversations were over. It's one thing to have a quiet conversation with a friend or another parent that you either quit or lower the volume of as soon as you realize that it's bothering others. It's another thing to resume those conversations at the same volume level even when you know it's distracting.
That's it for now. I'll try to get more posted when I get the chance.
Char
Silence is golden and duct tape is silver! =]=]
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