It’s that time of year again.

As December proceeds, schools–both elementary and secondary–are having their annual Christmas concerts.

You may remember that for Christmas vocal concerts in elementary school, you lined up on risers and performed songs–some Christmas songs, some not–that you had practiced for several weeks.

Maybe you still remember some of them. Maybe one became a favorite.

The music teacher may have had you and your elementary classmates stand with your hands behind your backs so that you neither fiddled with the buttons on your clothes nor waved to people you knew.

As you and your classmates advanced through elementary and secondary school, instruments may have become part of the school-music program too.

If so, they opened a new aspect of music to you and your classmates.

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Whatever those memories are for you, this is a good time to remember that school-music programs, both choral and instrumental, are indeed worth supporting.

Music is part of the history of all cultures, including Western culture, which schools need to transmit, and are charged with transmitting, to the rising generation.

Music, like art, shouldn’t be some extra item that schools eliminate when budgets are tight.

It supplements core academic subjects, and helps teach pupils to work with others and be part of a larger group, while enhancing their creativity and their self confidence.

It also feeds talent into community organizations that have their own choral and instrumental programs. Look around your house of worship. Many, if not most, of those participating in music were introduced to music as children, not adults.

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Do all pupils have the same musical talent? No, no more than pupils are equal in other talents.

Some pupils, for example, have natural talents in completely different fields. Some have talents for, say, overhauling engines or building houses.

By contrast, if this columnist somehow were able–which is doubtful–to work on your car’s engine or put an addition onto your house, the car probably wouldn’t run and the addition probably wouldn’t stand.

Yours truly’s aptitude for such things is about minus zero, which may be an overestimate.

That doesn’t mean that middle-school wood-shop and metal-shop classes weren’t beneficial.

School-music programs are likewise beneficial for all pupils and are worth supporting for all pupils.

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School-music programs are also worth supporting by attending events.

Yes, that includes when youngsters who are family members are taking part.

But you’ll also enjoy such events when no such family members are taking part.

This community–like many communities–has a rising generation with a tremendous reservoir of musical talent there for you to enjoy.

All you have to do is go.

Although it’s worth attending such events in your own local school district, other school districts are worth visiting as well.

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In a sense, it’s fortunate that such events are way too numerous to include all of them here.

So for today, we’ll highlight one: Jamestown High School’s A Cappella Vespers take place on two Sunday afternoons each December in First Lutheran Church in Jamestown.

First Lutheran has a beautiful sanctuary in a beautiful church that, like similar venues in this community, can–with good leaders–continue to exist for many centuries to come.

JHS’s A Cappella Choir fills this venue with beautiful vespers.

If you have ever been to the vespers, you already know why they’re worth attending.

If you have never been to the vespers, you need to put them on your bucket list.

Even if you attend only once, you’ll be glad you did.

Once you’ve attended, you may well want to return another year.

“It’s such a tradition here in Jamestown,” said Brian Bogey, one of only five people who have directed the choir. “Next year will be the 100th anniversary.”

Randy Elf is an alumnus of Southwestern Central School’s music department.

COPYRIGHT 2023 BY RANDY ELF