Five Winter Songs, One Small Gym: Cleveland Kids Take the World Tour

Cleveland Band, Orchestra & Choir Winter Concert — Cleveland Gymnasium, Sioux Falls, SD • December 2, 2025

Intro

Grammy and Pa picked us up so we could all ride over together, one little carload of winter coats, nerves, and excitement heading for the Cleveland Elementary gym. By the time we squeezed onto the bleachers, the place was already packed and glowing with phone screens, everyone waiting for that first note.

Quick note before we dive in: I’m keeping this piece light on student names and photos, out of respect for the privacy of kids and families. The night belongs to them, but they don’t all need to live on the internet forever.

Principal Stacy Stefani welcomed everyone and handed the mic to music teacher Mr. Beacon, who explained that the choir would be sharing winter songs from around the world. After that, the adults stepped back, and it really did become the kids’ show.

Sound and performance

When the choir started, the whole gym seemed to exhale at once. Mr. Beacon settled in at the keyboard, laying down simple chords while the students sang and a few classmates added hand drums and shakers.

The sound was exactly what an elementary concert should be: big, earnest, a little wobbly in spots, and full of heart. Some entrances were late, some notes were not quite where they were supposed to be, but the kids watched each other, listened, and found their way back. You could feel how proud they were just to be up there, making music at all.

Setlist and pacing

The night moved in three clear parts: choir, orchestra, and band.

First, the choir took everyone on a “five winter songs from around the world” trip by using different languages, different traditions, one simple idea, people everywhere sing when it gets cold and dark. Before each piece, a different group of students stepped up to the mic to share a sentence or two about the song. The explanations were short and sometimes quiet, but they gave the music a little extra meaning.

Then the chairs and music stands came out and it was the 4th-grade orchestra’s turn. They played short, easy pieces that showed what they’ve been working on this fall: starting together, stopping together, and getting comfortable holding a violin, viola, or cello in front of a crowd. My daughter Aurora was tucked into the 4th-grade violin section, one bow in a whole forest of them, and you could feel the room holding its breath with those kids.

Halfway through, the 4th- and 5th-graders joined forces for “Jingle Bells,” the first time those grades have ever played a piece together at the winter concert. The sound wasn’t perfect, but it was bigger and braver, and that felt like the point. The 5th-grade orchestra then took a turn with a few slightly longer tunes, showing how much can change in a year.

The concert wrapped up with the 5th-grade band. Think first notes, simple rhythms, and familiar melodies — the kind that have been echoing in living rooms and down hallways while kids practiced. It was their first real chance to put it all together in front of an audience, and they rose to it.

Crowd and context

The crowd looked like real life: grandparents in school sweatshirts, siblings in sparkly dresses, parents juggling programs, snacks, and escape-artist toddlers. You could hear different languages on the bleachers and see kids waving at each other across the gym.

What stood out was how many students were involved. This wasn’t one song tacked onto another event. Choir, orchestra, and band all had clear space on the program, and every kid had a moment where the lights and the eyes in the room were on them.

Production

The setup was classic school concert: risers, folding chairs on the gym floor, basketball hoops overhead. But the little details were handled with care.

The printed program made it easy to follow along with who was playing and when. The last page offered a simple thank-you to Cleveland’s staff and custodians — the people who unlock doors, set up chairs, and make sure the building is ready for nights like this.

Down on the band side, there was a quiet milestone happening. This is the new band director’s first year at Cleveland after teaching high school, which means he’s now the very first band teacher many of these kids will ever remember. You could see that in his approach: steady counting, calm starts, and real joy when the students got through a piece from start to finish.

Transitions between groups were quick and kind. Mr. Beacon, orchestra director Andrea Drouin, & the new band director kept kids moving without turning the gym into chaos, which is its own kind of miracle.

Afterglow

When the last note faded, everything snapped back into regular life. Kids spilled off the risers into family hugs, programs turned into crumpled souvenirs, and instruments went back into their cases. Staff started folding chairs, getting the gym ready to become a PE space again by morning.