10th Annual Music Festival, or Maggie's First Ensemble Performance

Since the fall, Maggie has been taking a group violin class as part of the school district's music program. The program normally begins for students in fourth grade, but because Maggie had already been playing the violin for well over a year and a half (and using the same book that the class would be using) I appealed to the teacher and was allowed to enroll her in the intermediate violin class. That meant that she was playing with children who began the violin last year as 4th graders, so they are all at least in 5th grade! Maggie is three years younger than any of the other students and has done an excellent job all year long.

On April 4, the elementary students joined with the middle school and high school music groups for an all-district Music Festival. (See Maggie there in the middle?)

The elementary string students were led by their teacher Ms. Poulin as they played "Lightly Row" and "The Can Can." The elementary band, middle school orchestra and concert band, high school symphony orchestra, wind ensemble, and symphonic band also played. Some favorite pieces were "Creepy Crawlies" (kids playing on just their trumpet mouthpieces sounded like buzzing bugs at the beginning of the song), "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (what's a high school gym without it?), "The Lord of the Dance" (those high school violinists were impressively fast), and several John Williams classics (Superman, Star Wars).

The final piece was "Winged Victory (Beacons of Light)" by Brian Balmages (whoever that is) played by the Combind Milpitas Unified School District Bands and Orchestras. It was a magnificent conclusion and I was impressed with the coordination of so many young musicians.

We're very proud of Maggie's participation in the concert. She was the youngest performer and learned a lot in preparation for playing in a larger orchestral ensemble. She struggled at times in the class, feeling a little out of place as a second grader amongst all the older kids, but she stuck it out and did a wonderful job. Brava Maggie!

 

Adah's Piano Recital

Adah began piano lessons here in California in January. We were lucky enough to find a piano teacher right across the street! It is so convenient and easy for me to just send her out the door. Damon actually discovered the teacher because her next door neighbor was playing the piano and Damon knocked on the door to ask where they took lessons.

After just  a few weeks of lessons with the new teacher, Li Ping, it was already recital time! Because of some scheduling confusion and miscommunication we only found out about the recital about three days before it happened. Adah knew it was coming up and was prepared to play, but we had to really scramble to fit it into our already overly-scheduled Saturday.

We finally made it to the recital hall at Santa Clara University and got to listen to Adah play all of her pieces perfectly! Shortly after she played, we all had to sneak out to make it to the next event, but Adah stayed and got a ride home with her teacher, who took these photos for us at the end of the recital.

Adah is progressing well in her piano studies under Li Ping. Adah is a great performer and has always been able to learn difficult songs and play them with feeling. She's quite good at memorizing pieces and never had to rely much on reading music. Li Ping is really working on that with Adah, which can be a struggle at times, but I'm grateful that she's learning that skill. It will combine with her natural talents for memorization and playing by ear to really broaden her options and abilities as a pianist. I'm proud of Adah's commitment to playing and practicing, even when it's frustrating for her. Well done, Adah!

Side Note: We were pretty bummed that we didn't remember to bring our own camera, especially during the pre-recital photo op with all of the students. Adah was one of the younger students, happily grinning amidst a sea of dark-haired Asian kids. She was the only blonde and I think only one of two white children in the group. It was quite a representative image of our community's make-up.