In an hour or so I'll start the intro to Rudolph on the keyboard and accompany my wife's third grade class as they sing about and act out Rudpolph's rise to glory among Santa's reindeer for what is probably my last participation in a school Christmas show.
As I think back to Christmas shows past not many come clearly to mind. One in Turkmenistan where our biggest space was the entrance foyer of the school. It was close to -15 and snow and freezing wind blew in to add a special winter chill to performances everytime a parent arrived late. The one that particularly stands out in my mind from 30 years ago was in a large auditorium in Guayaquil, Ecuador. A friend (also native to New Orleans) and I were playing jazzed up Christmas carols on piano, trumpet, and with another friend on clarinet in between children's acts. The crowd had a very hushed and shocked look on their faces as we launched into a jazzy version of "Silent Night". There was some concern that we might be offending the religious sentiments of the crowd. As we finished the song to no applause an earthquake rattled the building. We weren't sure if it was coincidence, the way a higher power might applaud, or a message from on high that "Silent Night" should not be jazzed-up. (I've jazzed it up a few times since and have not had a similar response, so I'm going with the coincidence theory.)
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