The Prize-Winning Musician of the Family

Cat is doing so well with piano!  She still complains about practicing and has occasional meltdowns during practice sessions, but much less than last year.

Late in the summer, Cat's teacher informed us that all of the students in her studio would be learning a duet, so Cat chose "Turkey in the Straw," and was paired up with Adam, a boy a year older than she.  She had the melody part, which is pretty quick and requires her to move her hands quite a bit, so it took her a while to learn it.  It was about two months before she felt comfortable with the whole piece, then she began practicing with Adam and trying to get their timing, etc., correct.

Cat's teacher then informed us that there would be a small duet festival (not a competition, according to the teacher) coming up soon, and she would like all of her students to participate.  Not having experienced anything like this with piano before, I wasn't sure this was something we really needed to do.  Cat is already practicing more than she wants to, and we already feel really stretched with the things we've committed to, and, oh by the way, what's the point of this?  I talked to her teacher about it, asking why she felt like it was a good idea.  She said that mostly, it encourages the kids to practice more.  Then I thought about it in relation to a road race - when I was running on a regular basis, there was a significant improvement in the quality and quantity of my running if I was preparing for a race, versus running just for exercise.  So of course participating in some kind of festival or competition would push the participant to try even harder.  Now it made sense, and I was completely on board.

Despite the challenges of coordinating schedules between two families with young kids in school and extracurricular activities who live 25 minutes apart, Cat and Adam were able to get together to practice a few more times.  Then, finally, the big day arrived.

All ready to go!

It was a Friday in mid-November and they were judged in a recital hall, all by themselves.  Parents weren't allowed to come in to listen.  Aghh!  

Peeking in during their performance through the little window in the door. 

They were judged and scored, and those with the highest scores were invited to perform in a winner's recital the next day.  We got a call from Cat's teacher during dinner Friday night saying that Cat and Adam had scored well, and would be performing the next day.  Yeah!

Here they are performing during the winner's recital:

My favorite parts of the video, aside from the quality performance itself:

     - Cat leaning in for the more quiet parts of the song - and she doesn't always lean in at the right time.  She was trying really hard to play expressively the way her teacher taught her to.  She worked a lot on "the lean."

     - Eliza cheering for Cat toward the end.  "Go Cafin!  Go Cafin!"  You can tell she's been to a lot more of Cat's soccer games than piano recitals, haha.

When the performances were over, Cat's teacher (in the black top) called all of the performers to the front to receive their certificates.

Then she was in for an even bigger surprise - attached to the certificate was an envelope with prize money inside!  What?!?!  How awesome is that?  You better believe I took the opportunity to tell her, "See, it pays to practice!"

And you might not have too much trouble believing me when I tell you that she hasn't seemed to mind practicing as much since the festival.  So guess which mother on the block is the biggest champion of piano festivals right now?  :-)

A month later, it was time for Cat's winter recital.  She performed French Children's Song from her Suzuki book and a simple arrangement of Silent Night.  She worked really hard on French Children's Song because it was the first piece she had where the left and right hands were doing very different things.  It was one of those times when she was extremely frustrated with herself (and me, and the music...) because she thought it was just too hard.  Then she got it right and her entire face lit up and she wanted to do it again and again.  It was a wonderful thing to witness.  And before long, she was playing French Children's Song all the time.  We didn't even mind.

Later in the program, Cat performed again, this time, with a partner.  Would you believe a random pregnant woman learned the lower part of Jingle Bells and happened to be there to perform with Cat?

I'm so glad we're doing this with Cat.  I'm glad that she has to struggle to learn and figure things out and that she's beginning to appreciate the need for hard work, as well as its benefits.  Plus, she seems to have a knack for it, AND, she's a great performer.  

During these performances, Cat didn't have the first bit of nervousness, anxiousness, hesitation, anything.  She stood up, walked to the front, sat down at the piano, played her piece, took a bow, and went back to her seat.  That was it.  Cat and I have in common that we're not shy, but I've never been without nerves of some kind when I've performed.  Even when I know a piece backwards and forwards, I still get a little nervous.  Not Cat.  What a wonderful gift!

Back in September, Cat's teacher talked to us about Cat learning a concerto and competing for the chance to perform with a local youth orchestra.  Whoa!  She'd only been playing for a year - was she ready for this?  We talked it up to Cat and she seemed excited by the idea, even though Cat's teacher told her that it would take her months to prepare for the audition.  Then we went home and listened to the piece her teacher recommended she learn, and watched a YouTube video of a child playing the piece, and Cat was turned off.  Maybe it was too long or seemed too hard?  But she didn't want to do it.  And I thought it was too big of a project to try to force her to do if she wasn't at least a little bit self-motivated.  Plus, the auditions and performances would have been around the time Ben finishes school and we have no idea what that season will look like.  We might not even be living here anymore.

But when Cat finished her winter recital, I knew she would need something challenging to practice to keep her interest during the 3-week Christmas break with no lessons, so she and I together chose a simple Beethoven piece, Russian Folk Song, to work on.  I wasn't sure how far we would get, especially with no input from her teacher, but we tackled it anyway.  And guess what?  She learned the whole thing in 3 weeks.  Now she's just perfecting it and getting it ready for a solo festival she'll be participating in this spring.

Encouraged by this progress, her teacher found a Haydn Sonatina for her to begin learning at her last lesson, which she has tackled wonderfully.  I think I've figured out that for Cat, she enjoys the process of learning the notes.  She likes the challenge of deciphering the music.  But she doesn't enjoy perfecting it as much.  Getting phrasing, dynamics, etc., correct, is harder for her.  So maybe if we always have a piece she can learn alongside a piece she is perfecting, we can keep her happy?