INNISFAIL – Since 2003 when St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School opened its doors in Innisfail there has been a grand celebration for the holiday season.
And for most of those years since, Diana Bushell, the school’s long-time music teacher since 2005, has been with the students to lead them at the annual Advent Christmas Concert.
This year the concert with its accompanying play was held on Dec. 3.
More than half of the school’s 300-plus student body had a role in the annual concert, which includes about 20 musical performances and ran for just over 75 minutes.
On Dec. 3 all elementary students from Grades 1 to 5, along with band members from Grades 6 to 9, performed at this year’s concert for Advent; a four-week season in the church calendar dedicated to anticipating the arrival, or advent, of Jesus and to celebrate with reflections on hope, peace, love, and joy.
“It's definitely crucial that there is that spiritual aspect to this concert,” said Bushell. “It's one of the biggest faith events we have through the whole year, and so we definitely want the students to know how important that is, and that's what this season is all about.
“I think they grasp the importance of it because they all buy into it and do their best.”
Bushell and her students have been preparing for the concert since after Halloween.
“The classes practised their songs during all of their music and band classes, and then I did lunch hour rehearsals for the kids that are in the play,” said Bushell, who was helped by school educational assistant JoAnne Keevill and husband Steve.
“They came in on the weekend to start setting up lights and sound, and they were here all day (Dec. 3), setting things up and running the sound,” she said. “It's just amazing the amount of work that they do to make it look and sound like it does.”
And everything was ready on Dec. 3 for the concert.
But first there was a full rehearsal in the gym from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
“I felt like all of the kids performed really well,” Bushell told the Albertan after the rehearsal. “We just had some technical things to recheck and iron out before our evening performance, but the evening concert tends to always go a little bit better because we've had the run-through in the afternoon.”
And when the concert is over after weeks of dedicated preparation by her students, Bushell is confident she will once again feel happy, relief and a strong sense of pride.
“It gives me a huge sense of satisfaction because the kids go from not knowing the songs at all to just doing a really great job of them and it's really cool getting to teach the younger kids all the way up to the older kids,” said Bushell. “And some of the kids that have gone through this school I've taught for 10 years.
“And I get to see that growth from when they're in kindergarten or Grade 1 all the way up to Grade 9 and see how much they've improved and how good they are at music by that point.”
