Piano Recital

T playing "The Kraken" from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on the keyboard....



J performing "Sword Dance" on piano....

Last night both T and J performed in their second piano recital with Mrs. A's other piano students. We crammed into the A's' home in rows of chairs and listened to ten students perform from one to five pieces each.

T played three musical pieces, two from film soundtracks, "Theme from Star Wars," and "The Kraken," as well as one classical selection, "Theme and Variation." (Variation of what, I don't know.) He played the first and third songs on the piano, and the second, as can be seen above, on the keyboard because he could make it sound spookier with the keyboard settings. Mrs. A. mentioned T's gift of arranging music; most of the soundtrack music that is simplified for kids tends to leave out the best parts, and apparently T has been adding some of these parts back in and rearranging the songs to make them play better. It's a real blessing to discover a hitherto hidden talent in one's child.

J performed five selections by his own choice, two from Harry Potter films: "Hedwig's Theme" and "Double Trouble." He also played a few fun songs: "Our Detective Agency," "Sword Dance," and "The Pirates of the North Sea." He played the most pieces of any of the students, very willingly so. He enjoys playing piano so much -- he has a great ear for music and wonderful dedication to learning and performing music.

Both boys can't walk past our piano without playing at least part of a song, and during our home school hours, I have to make them wait until after their math to practice piano or they would spend most of their school hours playing our second-hand piano (perhaps even third or fourth-hand -- it's an old one from the Bible camp). Playing piano is a passion for both boys, and one I'm very glad that they possess as I've always wanted to learn to play piano but never had the opportunity. My dad, who used to play organ quite well, showed my brother and me a few notes and chords on our electric organ we had as kids, but we never had any formal lessons; we could muddle our way through a few Christmas carols, but that was about it. Keith took organ lessons for a while as a kid, but I'm not sure how much he enjoyed them.

The recital didn't last too long as the kids just played all of their selections at one sitting rather than changing players after every selection. All ten of the kids, most of whom are beginning students, seemed to enjoy performing although there certainly were a few cases of nerves among the younger students. T and J felt like a recital was "old hat" by now and really weren't nervous at all. (Or if they were, they certainly hid it well.)

After the recital, we enjoyed a few snacks and drinks as the kids played around and the adults chatted. It was just a fun night, and I am so very thankful for having such a talented piano teacher available for the boys, and she even comes to our house rather than our having to travel anywhere. I tutor Mrs. A's oldest daughter in Intermediate Writing which covers half of our piano tuition. The A family is a real blessing to us, and the boys work very hard to please Mrs. A. and also just because they love creating music themselves.

So congratulations, boys, on a great piano recital! We're very proud of your hard work, discipline, and dedication to learning and playing music.