Cat's Piano Festival

It so happened that Cat's piano festival fell on the same day as Eliza's baptism, but during the best possible time that would enable us to still do all of the other fun and important things we needed to do that day.

Cat has been working on her pieces for months and she did a great job at the festival.  These are hard pieces!  I was really proud of her and the progress she made.  She might continue to work on these for her spring recital, but I think they're worth sharing now anyway.

The first was Bach's Prelude No.3 in C# major.  The lady at the music store was impressed that Cat was working on a piece in C# major but it didn't seem to phase Cat.  The tempo and articulation were the biggest challenges.

Cat has only done a little bit of jazz, and asked her teacher if she could do something jazzy when it was time to choose new pieces.  Sarah suggested Gershwin's Prelude No. 3, also known as the Spanish Prelude.  With a nod to Grammy, who loves Gershwin, Cat jumped right in and managed to learn the complex rhythms and unpredictable notes very well.

Our piano teacher has the kids practice performing their pieces when they are preparing for a recital of competition.  (Ideally, they do 10 practice performances.)  A friend of mine is part of my MoTab carpool and happens to be on the piano faculty at BYU.  I asked if Cat could perform for him and he gladly agreed.  I brought her to his house the day before her festival and it ended up being a 20-minute lesson which really helped her on Saturday.

Another friend who lives in our neighborhood let the kids perform for her, then thanked them with Kit Kat Bars to make a chocolate keyboard.  The rewards of piano playing!  

We are so thankful for the friends and family who listen to the kids play their pieces.  It makes a big difference!