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?

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!

Keeping Joy

Joy to the world! the Lord will come
And earth receive her King:
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and angels sing,
And Heaven and angels sing,
And Heaven and Heaven and angels sing.

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

A Solo on Sunday

Dill Pickle Rag @ Yahoo!7 Video

Appologies for the bumpy recording, I guess I need to use a stand rather than just holding the camera. The piece is called Dill Pickle Rag.There were only 4 solos in the concert and this was one.

Gaudete (Joyous) Sunday and the Pope wears Pink!

This 3rd Sunday of Advent is  known as "Gaudete Sunday" (Gaudete meaning Latin  for "rejoice!"). It's the day on which we light the pink(rose) colored candle on the Advent wreath, and the day on which the priest wears pink/rose vestments for Mass.  This signals a moment of excitement in our Advent preparations; we have crossed over the halfway point of the Advent season and the nearness of Christ's presence brings with it the joy of expectation.

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
                                                     this video is from our final violin concert of the year and labeled "reel of Joy" hence its place in this post

"As we light the third candle on our advent wreath we can:
Pray for the joy Christ's coming promises...
Pray for the joy that survives life's trials...
Pray for the joy the lonely thirst for...
Pray for the joy only peace can bring...
Pray for the joy that smiles even in grief...
Pray for the joy that is deep, not passing...
Pray for the joy that helps us see beyond the moment...
Pray for the joy only God can give us...
Pray for the joy others invite us to share...
Pray for the joy others wait for me to share...
Pray for the joy others wait to share with me..." (reference)

Graduation Concert: a rose for you mum

One important part of the Suzuki method of learning an instrument is graduations. And an important part of graduations is the Graduation concert. A graduation put simply is where a child demonstrates their ability to play at  particular level. This is the first year the children had to be filmed for their graduation rather than just submit an audio tape.

Being videoed means one can't get away with sloppy stance or other visible technique errors. I will do a post with the boys graduation performances when the dvd's are returned.

This post as I said is about a Graduation Concert where things didn't play out perfectly...or did they?
Oldest son stood to play his piece(he had been a little disconcerted in the car driving here that the ipod with concerto in a minor(1st movement) by Vivaldi had been left at home. Unlike some who can over listen I have learned that he can't listen too much and that right up to playing is just enough! Anyway he began to ply. Not an exceptional performance(which he had done in a previous concert...and that;s not a mummy brag but a quote from his teacher and others!) but ok. Then it happened...he hesitated...he stopped...he felt as he said later " what do I do, do I go back and start over or do I continue, and continue with what". Then all thanks goes to Judy our wonderful accompanist. Truly I have never heard anyone say anything negative about her, she is so patient,so unflappable,so very giving. She stopped accompanying and played Toby's part and he started listening,and then slowly and more confidently playing and right to the end where he finished on a flourish! I was so proud of them!
As well as their beautiful graduation plaque each child received a red rose. Both sons insisted that I have theirs.

Violin Concert at the Salvos

Once a year and every year since we first started learning violin with her our violin teacher puts on a concert for the older members of the Salvation Army Cor that she attends.

The old folk enjoy seeing the young ones come back each year and as one lady told me"not only grow taller but stand taller in their confidence and ability to play.

None of my children are exactly extroverts so this is a good place to learn to perform in front of an audience. I should point out that this is something their teacher has had to make herself do to. In other words she understands!

The audience is always very positive in their comments(hint:few if any have played the violin so mistakes will pass unnoticed!)

There is always a great sense of camaraderie amongst Jenny's students. This year Jenny asked if our daughter would be willing to play in the concert even though she know longer gives her lessons. Yes it is something we look forward to in our Suzuki violin walk and this year wht could make it better but Grandma was with us as well!!

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)