At the Solo Concert

We had our violin school's  solo concert today

 Both boys performed well.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to record one.Ah well,next time!

Suzuki Spectacular: Boysterous Bows

This was our first Suzuki concert of the year. Previously it was called the family fun concert but it has been renamed Suzuki Spectacular to give each teacher an opportunity to show off her particular flavor of Suzuki. It was also the first concert for our group Boysterous Bows.

Above is our tuning instrument for the debut of Boysterous Bows.

This photo shows "anonymous Fred" who was an addition to the cellos!

As you can see everyone had a great time.

Afternoon with a Junior Symphony Orchestra

Ds had orchestra camp this weekend. He came home hungry(but what 14yo's aren't!?) and happy. Went straight from 2 days of music playing to a rehearsal for Boys club.They put on a small concert for us parents, before the camp break-up.

One of our good friends used to conduct this orchestra and the camp was his idea...thanks Philip.You can just see ds in the first picture in green.And the video is (I think) the third movement of "Little Suite for Orchestra" by Malcolm Arnold.

BOYSTROUS BOWS

What do boys who play violins and cellos do when they get together?

They make instruments:

They play tabletennis and make instruments

They shoot balls

 They ride quad bikes

 They share a go-cart

They catch yabbies

They put a "splash of red" on  white t shirts

They rehearse for their debut concert

Can you guess what this extract is from?

Tchaikovsky and other Russians

My second cousin Kora always spoke well of Danny Kaye when she met him in conjunction with her UNICEFF work. I remember listening to a record of his songs at home. And of course watching him on tv. Wow I must be old!
Anyway just in case you want to practice singing this. According to the Word Spy, 54 Russian composers are mentioned in the space of 38 seconds! Impressive!

Onomatopoeia

Trolley Song lyrics

With my high starched collar and my high top shoes
And my hair piled high upon my head,
I went to lose a jolly hour on the trolley,
And lost my heart instead.
With his light brown derby and his bright green tie,
He was quite the handsomest of men.
I started to yen, so I counted to ten,
Then I counted to ten again.
Clang, clang, clang went the trolley,
Ding, ding, ding went the bell.
Zing, zing, zing went my heart strings,
From the moment I saw him I fell.
Chug, chug, chug went the motor,
Bump, bump bump went the brake,
Thump, thump, thump went my heart strings,
When he smiled, I could feel the car shake.
He tipped his hat and took a seat.
He said he hoped he hadn't stepped upon my feet.
He asked my name; I held my breath;
I couldn't speak because he scared me half to death.
Buzz, buzz, buzz went the buzzer,
Plop, plop, plop went the wheels,

Stop, stop, stop went my heart strings.
As he started to go, then I started to know
How it feels when the universe reels.
The day was bright, the air was sweet.
The smell of honeysuckle charmed you off your feet.
You tried to sing, but couldn't squeak.
In fact you loved him so you couldn't even speak.
Buzz, buzz, buzz went the buzzer,
Plop, plop, plop went the wheels.
Stop, stop, stop went my heart strings.
As he started to leave I took hold of his sleeve
With my hand, and as if it were planned,
He stayed on with me,
And it was grand just to stand
With his hand holding mine
To the end of the line.

Pig Latin

"Fun fact about this scene; in Ginger Roger's autobiography she talks about how she had been rehearsing this song for a very long time and started singing it in pig latin because she was so bored. Well Darryl Zanuck, Warner's production chief came in and Ginger thought that she was going to be fired for fooling around in rehearsal, but he had her sing it in pig latin again and decided to put it in the number. So Ginger Rogers is to thank for the pig latin part of the song."

Palindromes

We are enjoying our readings from "The Word Spy" by Ursula Dubosarsky. After today's reading we found a u-tube video of this song.Here are the lyrics:
, man, am regal a German am I
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I'm Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Rise to vote, sir
Do geese see God?
"Do nine men interpret?" "Nine men," I nod
Rats live on no evil star
Won't lovers revolt now?
Race fast, safe car
Pa's a sap
Ma is as selfless as I am
May a moody baby doom a yam?

Ah Satan sees Natasha
No devil lived on
Lonely Tylenol
Not a banana baton
No "x" in "Nixon"
O, stone, be not so
O Geronimo, no minor ego
"Naomi", I moan
"A Toyota's a Toyota"
A dog, a panic in a pagoda

Oh, no! Don Ho!


Nurse, I spy gypsies -- run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
God! A red nugget! A fat egg under a dog!
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog

Busking

We had a great morning yesterday helping our kids violin teacher raise funds for  Guide dogs. Of course it helped that we had a real guide dog with us aka "Potter"

we were divided into three groups and went off to different sections of our local mall to busk. My 14yo was leader of one group. He had organized a repertoire of songs to play, mostly at book 1 level because that was the level most in his group were at.In the beginning no one was super keen all refused to play a solo but after warming up nearly everyone did.




After 30 mins we all came together for two special group pieces.

Then it was back to our groups again to play. Of course I am not exactly unbiased(11) but I think the kids really looked like they enjoyed playing together. It was a good lesson in improvising and "just keep on playing" when you stuff up. It was also exciting to see how the second in our group took over so expertly as leader when oldest son's D string came loose.

The children and parents are all keen to do it again. Now to persuade their teacher!

Saint Nicholas comes to the hills

Saint Nicholas came early to the Adelaide Hills this year. Important to remember I suppose that he does have a busy schedule! Of course some of us will still be putting out our shoes in a few days time, but for an actual sighting of the man this hills visit can't be beat! The car (is it a Morris?), was a unique feature this year.






Of course a greater part of this season is "the waiting" as our two youngest families members show.

Now Mathilda can you recognize your dad?

And your brother?

Or your sisters who sang so beautifully "Silent Night"

O Night Divine

Every year since we have been attending our parish, part of our Advent traditions is the Christmas Carol Service our choir hosts. This year we wondered. The service was very early in December, did we feel ready for it? But two boys had offered to serve so off most of us went. We were not disappointed.Firstly two of our favourite priests lead the celebration , one who is  now 82 lead us into the church a few years ago and the other quite a number of years younger (shall we say  couple of generations!) is like us, a convert to Catholicsm and one of its strongest supporter.

The music was as always superb. We started with Advent hymns including one of my favourites by Eleanor Farjeon and moved through to ones of a more Christmas feel, including Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day,Noel Nouvelet, But the most memorable carol(see title of post) came right near the end. It started as a solo, a "mature voice", a little hesitant and we all journeyed with her as we wondered is she going to get there, can it be done. While at the same time we marveled as each second built on the preceeding as we realized we were truely witnessing something amazingly powerful, fantastical in its strength of message.While the number of those attending was not large I doubt any will forget and we are hopeful for an equally magical Midnight Mass on Christmas .

the jasmine's in bloom

 In my youth I went through a stage of listening to music by Seals and Crofts. Ever heard of them? Guess I truely am shoing my age.Anyway right about the time I went to a concert in the Auckland City Town Hall (think old and dark and dingey,then) and after the concert they invited those who wanted to come(most did) to the Bahai centre in Parnell, I kind of gave up the hippy stage.I mean "believe what you want to whatever" wasn't going to be my draw card for religeon. Still this song always plays on my mind(no pun on the song intended!!) when our jasmine is blooming in SPRING (does it really bloom in summer there,elsewhere?)

Love is....

Verse 1
Now Hollywood wants to make you think they know what love is. But I'm a tell you what true love is. Love is not what you see in the movies. Its not the ecstasy, its not what you see in that scene, you know what I mean? I'm telling you right now, true love is sacrifice. Love is thinking about others before you think about yourself, love is selfless not selfish. Love is God and God is love. Love is when you lay down your life for another, whether for your brother, your mother, your father or your sister, its even laying down your life for your enemies, that's unthinkable, but think about that. Love is true. Think.

Winter Festival

At the end of last week the boys and I spent three happy days at our State Suzuki music festival! Both boys participated in orchestras, junior and senior. Now neither of my boys is likely to ever play music professionally but it was encouraging to see how much they got out of this short concentrated music time.




In case you are interested in Suzuki for your children I will narrate the approximate sequence of events. Both my boy are violin players so Thursday began after lunch with a “play in”. This was for all students regardless of ability. It was a fun and inspiring occasion as the Suzuki repertoire was played from simple to more senior pieces.




Next the senior orchestra had their first rehearsal. Master 13 found the sight-reading involved challenging, but this is where the Suzuki atmosphere of sharing and mentoring was really visible for us as the mother of the violinist he was paired with encouraged both students with an impromptu tutorial later in the day. Before this we watched part of the introductory concert. These afternoon concerts, apart from the concluding one, were a chance for students who had auditioned of all ages and abilities to play a solo piece.




Friday began for us with group classes. These classes wet through Suzuki repertoire at the book level each boy was at. Master 13 enjoyed his class with Kylie and said he learnt some valuable skills in technique. Master 9’s class was taken by Vickie and included children from Book 2 to beginning of book 4.



Next L and I went off to his first junior orchestra rehearsal and T had a group class with Kasuki Nakamura. Both boys were happy to have some morning tea to refuel before they were off again to concert rehearsal and repertoire class.

During lunch the boys helped out in the small canteen. Immediately following lunch three solo concerts were held simultaneously for an hour at different venues. We enjoyed watching friends, including T’s orchestra partner in Concert 2.L’s day was then completed but T had another senior orchestra rehearsal for 90 minutes.





Saturday followed a similar pattern to Friday culminating in the closing concert in which all players participated. In the final concert the junior orchestra played “Chicken in the Kitchen” by Keith Sharp and the senior orchestra played “Palladio” by Karl Jenkins and “Deerpath” Triptych by William Hoefeldt. See if you can work out which pieces the video extracts come from (my camera was playing up on the day so focus was rather blurred)

Suzuki solo concert

It was a beautiful concert to listen to this afternoon. All performers played well.Master 13 played Concerto in A minor, 1st mvt by Vivaldi and Master 8 played Gavotte by Lully . Well done boys it was a joy to listen to you and the rest of the students playing! Before the concert, Master 13 listened to his piece "a trillion times" and I'm quite sure his ability at the concert was a direct result of all that listening. Our teacher always has stressed this part of the method and I will be reinforcing it in the future even more so!

The next part is a postscript and a proud mummy moment. Our violin teacher just called to congratulate us on how well the boys played in the concert and especially Toby. Apparently people came up to her and said that his playing was the highlight of the concert for them. Still others talked to her about that tall boy,all arms and legs who made the concert so memorable.

So Jenny phoned today to congratulate and to encourage us once again to go to winter school. “When I think of where we’ve come in a few short years…” she says and I too marvel and pause to give thanks to our great God who knew on this grey-day-Monday that this was the very day we needed to hear this praise.

I added this video brief as it is on Monday; because sometimes for whatever reason you derserve to be proud.