Schools mark holiday season with performances

Christmas season is also the season for Christmas plays and programs at the Clovis Municipal Schools.

Each school produces a concert of some type for the community to come and enjoy the sounds of the season.

Yucca and Marshall middle schools and Clovis High School’s freshman campus are producing band concerts, while the elementary school are hosting musical programs and plays.

Ranchvale Elementary School performed at the Cannon Air Force Base’s tree lighting ceremony as a warm up for their Christmas concert today.

Ranchvale music teacher Kristopher Walls said the program includes kindergarten through sixth grade students.

The school’s program is a musical drama, Walls said.

“I wanted to make this an exciting program for the students,” he said. “This is something they haven’t really done before.”

The program features Ranchvale’s sixth-grade band, kindergarten will perform two songs and first through sixth graders will act out a play called “The Elf Impersonator.” The play is about an elf that is different than the other elves.

The students at Cameo Elementary School will be performing a program entitled “Crazy Carols.”

Cameo music teacher Steve Baldock said the students will be singing parodies of traditional Christmas carols.

The sixth grade band will play and the students will lead a sing-a-long with the parents, before launching into the parodies.

“The parodies are educational,” Baldock said. “It shows the students and parents ways traditional music can be updated.”

The students at James Bickley Elementary School are performing “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.”

Music teacher Crystal Benfield said this is the first program she has ever coordinated.

“The kids have pulled it together for us,” she said.

The musical play will have 140 fifth and sixth grade students working on all aspects of play, including sets and costumes.

“It’s important for the kid to have this outlet. Some kids need a different way to express themselves,” Benfield said. “When you see the kids that are shy or don’t talk a lot come alive when they’re on state as a different character, it’s amazing.”

Sandia Elementary School’s first and fifth grade students will be performing a Christmas variety show, combining traditional and modern Christmas songs.

High Elementary School’s Christmas program is designed to show off the children, the school’s music teacher Karen Worthington said.

“We will have a lot of little solos so kids will shine,” she said. “Programs like this are important because Christmas is a big part of our culture. No music is like Christmas music. If you don’t get it at Christmas, when will you get it?”

CMS Christmas Programs

Dec. 11

• Ranchvale Elementary School, 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., all grades Christmas concert, Ranchvale Gym

• Sandia Elementary School, 6:30 p.m., first and fifth grades Christmas musical, Sandia Gym

• Yucca Middle School, 7 p.m., choirs Christmas concert, Marshall Auditorium

• James Bickley Elementary School, 6 p.m., fifth and sixth grades Variety Show, James Bickley Gym

• Cameo Elementary School, 6:30 p.m., second-, third- and fourth-grade Christmas program, Cameo Multi-purpose room

• Yucca Choirs Christmas Concert, 7 p.m., Marshall Auditorium

Dec. 15

• Marshall Bands Christmas Concert, 6 p.m., Marshall Auditorium

Dec. 16

• Yucca Bands Christmas Concert, 6 p.m., Marshall Auditorium

• Freshman Campus Bands Christmas Concert, 7 p.m., Marshall Auditorium

Dec. 18

• Highland Elementary School, 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., second and third grades Christmas program, Highland Gym