Singing Teaching in Paradise: Kindergarten Opera

I have never adjudicated Kindergarten Choirs before and Oh My ! It was a morning of unadulterated adorable performances.

Choir, as we know it was a total understatement in this case. Each group had large props, costumes worthy of Glyndebourne and choreography which had been planned by the Royal Ballet ! The set piece was 'Going for a ride on a Dinosaur' and by dint of much creative thinking on the part of teachers I imagine we had adult sized Hollywood adventure books, flower arches, an intercity train and backdrops which clearly cost thousands of dollars. The song was transformed into The Nutcracker, complete with dream sequences, Aladdin sequins and chiffon, camels fom the Gobi desert and explorers of the jungle fighting with Pirate Kings and, and, ..........well use your imagination.

One collection of tots came on with taps on the bottom of their identical white school shoes and proceeded to do a whole tap routine in costumes of pink and blue sparkles which almost took the breath away !

I was very hard pushed to write at all, I just wanted to watch the theatre unfolding on the stage of the Academic Hall of the Hong Kong Baptist University !

They swayed, they ran, they jumped and they skittered, they waltzed and pranced and utterly had a ball. They were all unconducted and it was against the rules to have any adult guiding or helping from the wings or the front, only pianists were allowed on stage and they played a 6 foot, gleaming Steinway grand piano. Some of the pianists added much fake orchestration to the performance, even putting musical references to Disney films or ballets..........it was almost beyond my comprehension !