This is the story of a project – a humongous project that we embarked on- getting 8 kids ranging from 4 to 7 years to sing a group song. Seven boys and one girl. Seven moms (I’ve got both my kids there, and as an outcome in double trouble desperately trying to get them to sing a song that goes for 2.5 minutes!
Choosing a song, getting them to learn it- what we thought would be the most difficult was a cakewalk I would say. It is a peppy song, so they kept on humming it as they went around at home. That much done, we thought we were all sorted.
Big mistake that was! Came the practice sessions, the biggest challenges we faced were-
a. they won’t / can’t stand still even for one whole minute.
b. one person will touch the other unknowingly, and mayhem breaks out!
c. if they see a bee/spider/whatever on the floor/wall, that marks the end of singing!
d. someone might have a cold, someone might be tired, someone might yawn – leaves everyone cranky.
e. you can only do a maximum of 5 practices during a session, as they might get sleepy!
f. you ask them to smile while singing, they smile which gradually becomes a laughter and then gets out of control.
g. if microphone is anywhere in vicinity, there could even be loud screams trying to reach it!
… and the list is endless. Now why does this surprise me?!! 😉
However, I should say that we enjoyed it thoroughly – planning strategies to discipline them, sharing the journey of getting them prepared to sing, shopping for costumes (we would have screened some 30 costumes or so, and after exchanging some 100 watsapp messages, decided on one!), and above all watching them sing with wet eyes!
Given that most of them were performing on stage for the first time, to be honest it did require a bit of emotional blackmailing (come on, all parents do that!)- but then, they did an awesome job on stage – phew!- and did us proud!