Submitted by Susan Will, Wichita, Kansas
Idea posted June 17, 2008
Staging and movement suggestions for "Masters In This Hall":
The stage was darkened and the students were turned around backward. In the intro., there are three distinct entrances by the Pennywhistle. Row one turned around and "lit" their candle as they turned on the first Pennywhistle entrance. Row two turned on the second Pennywhistle entrance and row three on the third.
Instead of singing at ms. 5, I had a flute play it as a solo an octave higher. At ms. 21 the rhythm starts and the dancer entered. The lights came up here also and I came to stand in front of the choir. The dancer left the stage as we sang verse one. I omitted the words for verse two and had the flute and dancer do that verse. On verse three, the dancer continued as we sang. She did a wonderful job of interpreting all the mood changes at the end. I also had the flute play part one at ms. 53. I did this with third graders, and it was a HUGE hit!
I used three rows on the risers, so you may have to adjust your students depending on the number of rows you will be using. I also made sure I was off stage for the beginning candle part, so as not to interfere with the effect.