We did it! We survived yet another recital! Our 13th Annual Christmas Recital on the 13th of December in 2013 was a rousing success! Despite the fact that I had a typo on the program (even after all the checking and double-checking) and I forgot about two MC’s, we had a wonderful celebration of music! I am so proud of my students and their hard work over the past several weeks! I was able to announce at the recital that, in response to my Pennies for Practice challenge, my students practiced over 10,000 minutes in the last 3 weeks! Isn’t that amazing?! And because of that, more than $100 was raised for Food for the Hungry!! We will spend a little time during our master classes next week deciding what gifts to send to which countries!
But for now a few pictures and video clips of the recital for those of you who missed it….and for those of you who might like to see a bit of it again.
Matt and I had a lot of fun starting our evening program off with a duet we had prepared:
The evening was filled with ensembles and MC duties conducted by our students, including these clips:
We had some lovely solos, here are just a few short clips. I wish I could’ve gotten each and every student but some were just too quick for my camera:
And, of course, everyone looks forward to hearing Matt play:
Even though it was a piano recital, we had a couple rhythm and vocal ensembles. Rhythm instruments and our voices are a part of each and every group lesson as well as private lessons as we work on rhythm, sight reading and ear training. So this just seemed a fitting way to express our Christmas wish!
I enjoyed sweet baby cuddles from our youngest audience member, Izzy (Isabelle) Ferchau, who was there to cheer on her big sisters, Annaliese and Katie. I tried to sneak her home with me, hoping she would just blend in with my outfit, but her parents were too smart for that. 😉
And, yes, I played a piece as well. Here is a recreation of it done in my studio at home as I completely forgot to ask someone to record me.
At the end of the recital, each student received a little treat bag to enjoy as well as a candle. We had talked about how music brings light and warmth to our lives and each student was asked to light their candle (with parental permission AND supervision, of course) each and every time they played the piano throughout their Christmas holiday to remind them of the light and warmth they share. If they wish, they can bring their candle to their first lesson in January to show me how far they burned their candle and just how much they practiced! 😉
And I could not have done it without the help from all of you! Thank you, Stephanie and Jason, for help with microphones and set up, thank you all who brought such delicious food to share, thank you MC’s for introducing ensembles and telling jokes, thank you students for your generosity and courage as you shared your music with us, and thank you to my little assistant, Dexter, who helped fold programs and stuff treat bags!! Merry Christmas to all!
