Sadly, #lipsyncing is considered #art and #musiceducation at some elementary schools

It has been a while since I blogged. I could not stay silent on this one. I am noticing at my children's elementary school that at the Christmas concert, everyone is singing along to a prerecorded track - lipsyncing. To their credit, the teachers did lower the volume on the track so that you could actually hear the children singing this year, a nice touch. However, are we so far gone that we will not risk our children singing Christmas songs to their parents? What does this teach the children? The message to me is that this is live performance, where the actions on stage trump any musicality. And, the choreographed moves on stage or simple, goofy and hastily put together - but the audience eats it up. Why not? We have all been programmed that the visual aspect of the show is paramount. Everyone loves to see their Johnnys or Sallys struggling to march in-step to the beat while they do their best Brittany Spears impression. And, worst, the children think this is music: singing along to someone else belting out the exact same part - and I am not talking about beautiful, balanced, in-tone monophony that you would find in a choir. Well enough of that rant. If you have read this far, you either agree or are just puzzled.  

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