The two younger girls and I walked into the darkened stadium, looking for Ka'eo who had saved seats for all of us, and this is what we saw...
Alyssa playing in the African Hand Drum Ensemble underneath a huge spotlight. She looked sooooo tiny down on the floor of the arena. We walked in on the mid level section of seating and it was just one of those moments where I was frozen for a second as I watched her sitting down there drumming her little heart out. Ka'iulani is the one in the back with her hands raised up by her ears. 
The drummers played the prelude to the music festival. Alyssa loved watching the African Dancers. We never even knew she could drum, but she was selected for the ensemble and she loved learning! She taps out rhythms everywhere now.
The drummers led by Dr. Cecil Austin (front left, with white headband) take a bow. 
A wide view of the US Cellular set up for the festival. The blue chairs(that I just realized you can't really see too well) that are off to the left and pushed back a little from the stage are where Alyssa was sitting to drum. By the time this pic was taken she had already run up to join the choir.
The superintendent of music for MPS welcomed everyone and he asked the kids if they were ready to get started. Of course all the kids screamed! I was surprised they could all sing afterwards the way their yelling carried on for several minutes, but it was really neat to see how enthusiastic Mr. Applewhite was. I could tell he felt a great amount of pride in everything that these young music students are learning in their schools.
I loved this photo of Alyssa looking back and smiling at her friend, Martina as they sang. It was just a sea of children singing, and this was pretty much the story of the night for these two girls. They seemed to be smiling and enjoying the whole festival, the entire 3 and a half hours! I had tried to talk her into a simple black hair clip earlier in the day, but later that evening I had a great appreciation for Alyssa's choice of a distinctive headband, it made her easy to spot in the crowd.
The theme of the night was Agents of Change, and here they are singing one of the more serious pieces of the night, Sing World Peace. 
This is just one of four sections of the elementary choir, it was huge! Definitely the largest group of kids Alyssa has ever had the privilege to sing with.
Can you hear us now?
Singing It's a Blast!
It was a long night, Alyssa and Tina needed a rest :-)They also had two amazing choirs of older students, one of high school students, and the other was MPS alumni. It was like watching the Salem Baptist Church Choir, if you're familiar. It was really cool to see bands, orchestras, and choirs of all different aged students come together for the festival. It made me even more conscious of how blessed our kids are to go to school in a community that places such a high importance on music education. I hope it's something we never take for granted, especially in a time when so many art and music programs are being cut from public school curriculum.
It was a fun and exciting night, there was even a Michael Jackson tribute performed by a group of high school dance students that Emma deemed "inappropriate," but an awesome thing nonetheless to see so many students demonstrating their love for music!
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