Christmas is right around the corner (do you even need me to tell you that?) and our holiday sessions are in full swing!

We’re jingling bells, ho-ho-ho-ing on the kazoo, and playing Holiday Musical Pictionary.

I recently started working at a preschool in Miami, where I provide music therapy for the 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old classes.

Tomorrow is their Holiday Show and I wanted to showcase something very special for the parents and families.

With preschoolers in the past, I’ve done a Holiday Spectacular that featured multicultural songs and a performance of the Nutcracker (complete with original choreography, music, and set design).

This year, the preschool children will be performing “The First Noel” on hand bells.

I wanted to share this because it’s a great choice for a holiday performance for a few reasons:

• First, if the children are playing the melody, it uses all eight bells. I love doing songs like “Jingle Bells,” but the chorus only uses five of the hand bells.
• Second, for the majority of the song, it moves in stepwise motion. There aren’t many leaps in the melody, which makes it easy for the children to anticipate when it’s their turn to play.
• Third, the melody repeats itself twice. This makes it easy for you as the teacher, because you don’t need to juggle multiple sheets of music. This also makes it easy for the children, because they’ve become very familiar with the melody due to its repetition.

I’m looking forward to our Holiday Show tomorrow!

We’ll be singing lots of holidays carols, but I’m most looking forward to the parents watching their children read real music notation and play the hand bells.

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