![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
End of year performances
May. 16th, 2012 08:30 amHave I mentioned how busy the end of school is??! Yesterday, Little Sweetie was feeling well enough to do the play but not well enough to actually go back to school full time. So I took her in for two different performances and brought her back home in between. There was a lot more to the play than I was expecting from your basic first grade performance, so I'm glad she could rest in between. Singing, dancing, acting--the kids did a great job. It's probably the best elementary school play I've ever seen. You could understand all of the kids, even without microphones, and they had a great job hamming it up. My daughter was the skeptical granny who, every time they announced a new ingredient to go into stone soup, shook her head and cackled, "Soup from stone? Faaaaaaancy that!" She's got a field trip today, then one more performance for the parents tomorrow. (And here I thought I was just going to the parent performance--ha!)
Then last night, my oldest son had his orchestra concert. He was required to attend the high school concert which followed the junior high one, so we got to stay for *quite* a while. The concerts were very good, and the plus side was that between sick children and kids who had too much homework to go, I basically got to sit in a darkened auditorium all by myself and listen to nice music. So that was good. The high school part included various smaller groups and concertos, including the piece that the Piano Guys use in their recent release Bourne Vivaldi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09RUuTAM2H0&list=UUmKurapML4BF9Bjtj4RbvXw&index=2&feature=plcp). So that was fun. Also, a group of private students learned another Vivaldi concerto and played it--the group ranged from age 14 down to about 7, and the high school orchestra played backup. Have I mentioned how seriously people take music here? When we lived in Arkansas, we had friends who took their 1st grader out of school early once a week for violin lessons. It's not really the sort of thing you expect of most first graders; kids play piano, but most people don't automatically assume their 6YO should start violin now. But guess what? The family was originally from this town--and NOW I get it! Of COURSE you want your 6YO to take violin--it's one of the inalienable rights, isn't it? Lol.
I know there are other places in the US where people start their kids young and hope they become prodigies and go off to Julliard or whatever. The different thing about here is that I don't think there's that aspiration. It's not a parent-driven pressure to be The Best in the World. It's more of well...an inalienable right. Music. It's what people do. You do your best because then you have an amazing school orchestra. Most of the town is going to be there, so why not make it a top-quality concert?
Then last night, my oldest son had his orchestra concert. He was required to attend the high school concert which followed the junior high one, so we got to stay for *quite* a while. The concerts were very good, and the plus side was that between sick children and kids who had too much homework to go, I basically got to sit in a darkened auditorium all by myself and listen to nice music. So that was good. The high school part included various smaller groups and concertos, including the piece that the Piano Guys use in their recent release Bourne Vivaldi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09RUuTAM2H0&list=UUmKurapML4BF9Bjtj4RbvXw&index=2&feature=plcp). So that was fun. Also, a group of private students learned another Vivaldi concerto and played it--the group ranged from age 14 down to about 7, and the high school orchestra played backup. Have I mentioned how seriously people take music here? When we lived in Arkansas, we had friends who took their 1st grader out of school early once a week for violin lessons. It's not really the sort of thing you expect of most first graders; kids play piano, but most people don't automatically assume their 6YO should start violin now. But guess what? The family was originally from this town--and NOW I get it! Of COURSE you want your 6YO to take violin--it's one of the inalienable rights, isn't it? Lol.
I know there are other places in the US where people start their kids young and hope they become prodigies and go off to Julliard or whatever. The different thing about here is that I don't think there's that aspiration. It's not a parent-driven pressure to be The Best in the World. It's more of well...an inalienable right. Music. It's what people do. You do your best because then you have an amazing school orchestra. Most of the town is going to be there, so why not make it a top-quality concert?
