The sounds of Christmas music can be heard throughout area schools this week in preparation for school music concerts. Large groups, ensembles, and soloists have been practicing and will assemble for public concerts in Sedan, Longton, Burden, and West Elk this week. The following is a list of those events.

SEDAN SCHOOL MUSIC CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
The Sedan Instrumental Music department and the High School Vocal program will present their annual Christmas Concert on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium.

The concert will feature the 5th Grade Band, 6th Grade Band, Jr./Sr. High Band, Sr. High Select Choir and Concert Choir.

The concert will begin with the 5th Grade Band playing “Christmas Fun”, “Jingle Bells” and “Up On The Housetop.” They will join the 6th Grade Band for “Santa’s Noisy Workshop”, featuring the percussion section. The percussion section will be playing non-traditional percussion objects, such as a brake-drum, electric drill and paint bucket.

The 6th Grade Band will also be playing “Winter Wonderland”, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and “First Christmas Snow.”

The Jr./Sr. High Band will be performing “A Holly Jolly Christmas”, “What Child Is This”, “Pachebel’s Christmas” and “C’est Noel.”

The second half of the concert will feature the vocal music department with the Select Choir singing “Getting In The Mood For Christmas”, “Carol Of The Bells”, and “Who Would Imagine A King?”

The Concert Choir will perform “Glad Noel”, “Silver Bells”, “Come See The Baby” and a few other traditional Christmas carols. The choir girls will sing a beautiful 3-part arrangement of “O Holy Night”.

The choir and the band will join together for “Christmas Finale”, a medley of “Joy To The World”, “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.” The concert will end with the traditional singing of “And Love Was Born” and “Silent Night”.

The music directors are Miss Trish Roudybush and Mrs. Rosie Sweaney. The concert is free and everyone is invited to come and usher in the Christmas season with the music department.

ELEMENTARY MUSIC PROGRAM
The Sedan Elementary School Christmas Music Programs will be held on Thursday, Dec. 18 in the high school auditorium.

The Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd grade classes will present their program at 6 p.m., followed by the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade class program at 7 p.m.

There will be a 15 minute break between the programs, allowing parents to pick their children up after the first program.

Each grade level will present several traditional Christmas songs.

The community is invited to come and see the children perform. Music Directors are Miss Trish Roudybush and Mrs. Rosie Sweaney.

ELK VALLEY K-12 MUSIC PROGRAM
Student in kindergarten through 12th grade will provide a Christmas music program for the public at Elk Valley Schools on Thursday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Elk Valley Gymnasium. A variety of Christmas songs will presented as well as a visit from Santa Claus. Doug Hawkins is the band and choir director of the 4th-12th grade and Deb Kill directs the kindergarten-3rd grade.

BURDEN CENTRAL MUSIC PROGRAM
Burden-Central Schools will share in a Christmas music concert on Monday, Dec. 15 at 6:30 p.m., in the high school gymnasium. Elementary music students, led by Gordon Warren, will share in a selection of Christmas music, as well as the 5th and 6th grade bands. The Central High School choir and Raider Pride Band will also perform their selections. Ed Shubert is the director of the 5th and 6th grade bands, the high school choir, and Raider Pride Band.

WEST ELK MUSIC PROGRAM
The West Elk music program will be held Tuesday Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. The 6th-12th grade vocal and instrumental students will combine to present and evening of various Christmas music selections.

The combined choirs will perform “The Marvelous Toy,” by Tom Paxton. The 7th-12th grade bands will combine to present the “Hymnsong Variants” by Robert Smith. Individual groups from the 6th grade, 7th grade, and high school will also perform. The bands will also perform separately as the 6th-7th grade band, 8th grade band, and the high school band.
The public is encouraged to attend.

Area towns will be celebrating the holidays with various events in the next few weeks. Some churches have already held their Christmas music events, but many will be held this weekend.

The Christian Community Church of Longton will hold it’s annual Christmas Program and Children’s Play on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. Refreshments served and everyone is welcome to attend.

The Moline Community Choir Christmas Cantata will be performing their Christmas concert on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m. at the Moline Christian Church.

The Peru United Methodist Church will host the Peru Community Christmas service on Sunday evening, Dec. 21, at 6 p.m. The Peru United Methodist Church will celebrate its annual Christmas Eve service on Wednesday evening, Dec. 24 at 6 p.m.

The Christmas Cantata “Everybody Will Be Praisin’ the Lord” will be presented by the Eastern Cowley County Choir on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. at the Burden United Methodist Church. The music and lyrics written by Jerry Nelson captures the life of Jesus from the cradle to resurrection.

The Sedan Chamber will once again sponsor the Christmas Outdoor Light Decorating Contest. To enter your home, call the Chamber office at 725-4033 by 5 p.m. on Dec. 18. Judging will take place on the night of Dec. 18. A Christmas parade in Sedan will not be held this year.

Santa Claus will also be in Howard at the Cox Building on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. He will hand out bags of treats to attending children, sponsored by the Howard Chamber of Commerce. Friendship Meals will be selling their “walking tacos” after the Santa visit. A movie, “The Polar Express”, will also be shown at the Howard Library at 11 a.m., sponsored by Elk Konnected. On that Saturday morning at 9 a.m., a holiday makeup demonstration will be held at Traci’s Trends.

Moline will receive a visit from Santa Claus on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 10 a.m., at the Moline Community Building. The Christmas Light Contest judging will be held Friday evening, Dec. 19.

Santa and Mrs.Claus will be in Elk Falls to distribute bags of goodies on Saturday, Dec 20, at 10 a.m. on Main Street.

Santa will be visiting Longton on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. The ’57 fire-truck will be picking him up and bringing him to the Town’s Christmas tree at 5th & Kansas. There, Santa will pass out bags of candies and collect the “wish list” from kids. City Hall will serve hot chocolate and cookies.

Decorate your home for the holidays in Longton and you may win the 2008 lighting contest. The 1st place winner will receive a $50 gift certificate, 2nd place a $35 gift certificate, and 3rd place a $20 gift certificate redeemable at any business in Longton. Judging will be done by all residents of Longton. Each household will be receiving a voting ballot in the mail, so you and your family can vote for your three (3) favorite decorated homes. Drop your ballot off at City Hall. Ballots will be counted on Dec. 22.

If you have any other Christmas events, call us at 620-725-3176 or email us at taylornews@taylornews.org.