For many parents of new kids in Prep or year 1, the thought of spending hours at the annual school concern must be, well, disconcerting.
Yet at the recent Burpengary State School concert, the time seemed to slip by as I watched and listened to these kids sing and dance.
I did not expect to get so much pleasure out of the concert, and what I found so grin-inducing and heart-warming was the reactions of the kids on stage.
I saw children spot their parents, and their eyes light up and they wave madly, or another tries to wave discreetly.
I saw kids of astonishing talent, with booming voices and serious stage presence.
And the best to see is their faces when they get the applause.
Some have a look of astonishment. I realise it may be first time they have heard adults outside the family give them applause, loud and sustained applause.
As a new father, I find I have greater awareness of reactions of young kids and new parents.
I can appreciate why my school concerts were such an event for my mother. She still talks about them.
In a nice piece of synchronicity, she recently found the program from my year 2 concert. I have it here, and there is listed C. Whiting and D. Romagnolo as “A Couple of Tramps”, and we sang “Side By Side”.
I even have the picture of us singing the song, focusing on the microphone, straining forward to get the volume from our seven year old throats.
David was one of my closest boyhood friends. We were at school together from kindergarten to year 12. He was quiet and determined, and in our teenage years he developed a raucous and absurdist sense of humour sparked by “The Kenny Everett Video Show” and Monty Python.
I always envied his precise talent at drawing, and his finely-practiced cricketing abilities. Yet David followed his father into a respected local accounting firm, and I now see he is a director of the company.
David, if you are reading this, go and tell your kids that you sang “The LumberJack Song” in the school concert in Year 12. Better than that, sing it to them.
I hope in the years to come, the children at Burpengary State School can remember their friends in their school concerts.
A little sadly, they will be hard to remember from photos, as no photos were allowed during the performance. I think that makes the photo I have even more special.
So I hope the parents can hold onto their memories, as has my mother.
For the parents who are baulking at being seated in an auditorium for hours, do not begrudge it. Keep the program for when your child grows up.
And keep talking to them about the concert songs they sang when they were seven.
