As I viewed part two of Christmas at Home highlights…these thoughts came to mind:

The drama and music tips found in the back of the cantata book were very helpful. For example:  Possible seating and microphone arrangement for stage.  Another great tip: “Whenever the readers are seated, their heads should be bowed. This signifies that they are “out of scene”.  (My thoughts: this also keeps the readers from being a distraction while the choir sings).

I almost forgot to mention…we chose not to  sing two of the songs in the cantata because they were more suited for a larger choir.

Notice how transitional/background music can be effective (around 8:20 on this video) * This transitional music is not in the cantata book.  I just made it up to cover a spot while the singing quartet returned to the choir.

One last reminder…this video contains only highlights of the  cantata.  The video presents a portion of the songs and drama to give you an overall  taste of this “down-to-earth” drama packed with a strong salvation message.  There wasn’t a dry eye in the auditorium when we finished this heart-gripping story.   A special thanks to Majesty Music for allowing us to share these highlights of Christmas at Home.

We look forward to learning and improving as we seek to share God’s message through music. The more prepared we can be…the more effective our music ministry will be for God’s glory.

Our church choir thoroughly enjoyed putting on this production of Christmas at Home by Majesty Music.  

Majesty Music has granted us special permission to post these highlights on youtube.

About two-thirds of our choir do not read music.  Also, several of us have about a 40 minute commute to church making for shorter rehearsals. Therefore, we simplified the music to two parts or unison.  Initially, I was to coach the speaking cast… but our other pianist’s husband had to have serious surgery…making it necessary for me to play piano in the beginning rehearsals.  I thought the speaking cast did a superb job in spite of the circumstances.

I’ll share one of our stage secrets…one of our playcast members wrote their lines on a card and stuck them to a stage prop for security.  It worked great 🙂

Enjoy watching part one of Christmas at Home (highlights)…

Our church just performed Christmas at Home last night. The Lord really blessed through this heart-rending story packed with a powerful salvation message.

This particular cantata was done in Reader’s Theatre style…actors face audience as they speak.  (Our actors tried to warm up the play by interacting more than the normal reader’s theatre style.)  They did a great job for starting a short while before the play. We plan to have our actors memorize their parts for any further programs.  Memorizing parts will give them more opportunity to focus  on expression and interaction/reaction.  So important!

I’m hoping to see them do this one again in full-acting style!

I’ll share a quick story about this particular cantata.  Years ago, when my son was around 4 years old…our church in Charleston (Northside Baptist Church)  did this play.  There’s a scene where the doctor amputates the drummer boy’s leg with a saw. (not literally of course).  My son thought it was real.  He wouldn’t talk to our friend (the doctor) for the longest time because of this scene.  We finally convinced him that the doctor was only pretending 🙂

I received permission from Majesty Music to post the cantata on youtube.  Since I’m still in the editing process of the tape…I’m posting several drama highlights from the cantata. You can view them below. The final video presentation will share highlights from the entire cantata.

Another nice Christmas cantata from Majesty Music is Born to Die.  I hope to use it for our church within the next several years.

Have a very merry Christmas!  I’ll post again sometime next week.

My dad just told me about a reputable website that sells used church choir music.  I was SO excited to find out about The MusicLibrary.com!

This site sells used music for churches that are trying to get rid of music they no longer use.

For the last several weeks I have been brainstorming…trying to figure out what to do this year for our church Christmas program.   I checked out TheMusicLibrary.com and found enough books for the “Christmas at Home” cantata by Ron Hamilton…reasonably priced!

Our books should arrive next Friday just in time to start learning the songs on Sunday, September 18th.  The music in Christmas at Home are SATB arrangements.  Our choir is mainly a two part choir but getting use to three parts now… due to new choir members 🙂  (Praise the Lord)

We are going to simplify the songs by singing unison on some and two parts on other songs.”Christmas at Home” is one of my favorite cantatas because of the strong emphasis on salvation.  This is an excellent cantata to bring unsaved family and friends to.

So…if you’re looking for Christmas program material or music in general…check out TheMusicLibrary.com