Throwback: Piano Performances

I realized that there are several things I neglected to blog about earlier in the year so I'm going to be playing catch-up for a few days.  Here goes!

The piano-playing kids had their solo festivals and recital in February after spending months working on their pieces.  They all did a great job, getting very good scores.  The weekend before the first festival, we had a practice performance at Oma's assisted-living facility and invited another family in the piano studio to join us.  It went well and Oma and her friends really appreciated the music.

Jack played "The Clock" by Theodor Kullak and the first movement of Mozart's Sonata No. 15, which he loved playing over and over again, especially the first couple of pages.  It was a very long piece - 5 pages - and one day we walked to a neighbor's house to practice performing and he realized he'd forgotten his music.  He hadn't played it by memory yet and he started to freak out, but I reminded him that he knew it very well and he recluctantly decided to just give it a try.  He did such a great job.  It was probably the best performance he did of that piece.  I had tears in my eyes, I was so proud of his playing and of his willingness to step outside of his comfort zone.

Eliza played Sonatina No. 1 by Gutlitt - such a fun piece! - and "La Caroline" by CPE Bach, something she'd started the year before but then took a break from and started over again this year.  They both seemed to suit her personality well.

Cat played Debussy's Arabesque No. 1 (it was lovely to hear this over and over again while she practiced) and excerpts from Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, 3rd movement.  She'll keep working on the concerto for a while, but it was fun to hear this little chunk - about 1/3 of the movement - with the accompaniment.

Customary treat after competing.

The recital was sandwiched between the older and younger kids' festival weekends.  Because the piano studio has gotten so large and the recital program was already quite long, the younger kids, who'd already had their festival, had to choose one of their solo pieces to perform in the recital.  (Bummer, since I didn't get recordings of the other pieces they learned.)  The older kids hadn't had their festival yet, though, so Cat performed both of her pieces in preparation.

We were all quite relieved when the recital was over, and celebrated with ice cream sandwich macarons at a new dessert place on the way home.

  

The kids are all so talented and I enjoy hearing them perform, wreaping the fruits of all the hours of practice.  Cat doesn't always practice quite as much as she should, but she really has been enjoying playing piano, for her own pleasure and for others to hear, for a few years now.  Jack and Eliza aren't there yet.  But they don't fight about practicing as much as they used to, which I'm thankful for, and they continue to progress, so hopefully the appreciation and enjoyment will come soon.