Recorder Recital

Lolly had her first recital.  Didn’t she look cute?  I don’t care that this dress is a hand-me-down it’s just the perfect recital dress. Bell 3/4 sleeves? Stop it.  There were four recorder girls at the mostly-flute exhibition.  The players played in order of ability so we were surprised to see Lolly as the fourth and last recorder player.  The first three girls had been playing since the fall, and Lolly started on March 23rd to be exact.

Before she played the teacher explained that she was the newest member of their group and had only been playing for 2 and a half months.  Lolly then proceeded to rock Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (and variations).  She was very “nervous” about her bow…she practiced it a lot!  Man I was rooting for that kid.  I wore my new flute necklace (she will play flute very soon!) in support of her!

Jason and I were so proud of Lolly.  I was just WILLING her to remember everything and she did!  Phoebe got pretty hyper pre-concert and then just fell asleep after Lolly played.  The room was extremely hot and I guess she wore herself down.  We now have proof that Phoebz is capable of mid-day sleeping, so we think we are going to institute mandatory family naps on Sunday afternoons!

Lolly has accomplished so much since March 23rd and we are so excited to watch her progress. She asks (practically begs) to practice nearly everyday, picks up on her assignments superfly fast and she can read music.  She and J shared a fist pump when she was done.  She reached out her fist and said: First Concert! (Fist Pump).  One down…

Song

This is Lolly playing at her 3rd recorder lesson. Just watch her little eyebrows go up. I think it’s so delightful.

Recorder

Lolly has had her eye on the flute ever since she saw one of Phoebe’s friends play it at a concert.  She is also interested in various brass instruments, anything that she can blow loudly!

The violin plays a big role in our house, it rules the air waves for hours a week and Lolly knows that when Phoebz and Mom are practicing, that she will be ignored.

Her desire to practice like big sister has just increased over time and finally I gave in to her begging and we started the Recorder a few weeks ago.  If you have met Lolly or have been reading the blog, you must know that Lolly is a whole different animal than her big sister.  She is musically talented and super-bright like her sister, but she is not a fall-in-line, aims-to-please girl like her sister. at all.

You can imagine my trepidation then, when I handed her a recorder and instructed her not to blow loudly or willy-nilly.  I was stunned and amazed at her interest and commitment in her lesson(s) and at home during practice.  She ASKS to practice, was not upset that she could not play her hot pink translucent recorder anymore, but rather her modest, white recorder (don’t worry, we got her a pink Recorder Case and a way cool pink “recorder bracelet” to soothe the blow (pun!)), and ENJOYS her theory homework.

“Wow, this is a lot of erasing!” ~ Lolly

Could I be any prouder of this kid? And, yes I am surprised at how much I find myself enjoying the recorder/Lolly-practicing experience. Oh yeah, guess who plays the hot pink recorder during practice now? ME. All. Me.

I’m secretly stoked. Anyone for Hot Cross Buns?

Third Person Thursday

She sat reading the teacher’s manuel for the piano lesson series The Music Tree, that she is going to start teaching her kids soon.  This, after attending her daughter’s first recorder lesson and learning how to finger the notes B, A and G. BAG.

She has embraced the part of her life that is practicing, but now with her younger daughter starting her instrument, and the older wanting to have her violin practice reward be her first piano lesson, she’s feeling that familiar overwhelmed feeling.

She found herself transported back in time to college, when she took intro to guitar (and sucked at it) and violin (her husband could play twinkle better than her) and some early music education classes.  She remembered when she went to do her first observation of music educators, to fulfill the required hours of observation before declaring the music education major.  She remembered arriving home, knocking on the door and her husband (husband!) opening it and she fell into his arms and wailed that she didn’t want to be a teacher.  She remembered feeling so panicked that she had to make what seemed at the time, like a life-altering decision with a husband attached.

The husband was just who she needed, because he encouraged her to follow her dream and make a living performing.  So, she did not become a teacher. Instead, she found the fastest way out of that school, which was 3 years and a music/business major and graduated in 2000. By 2002 she was a mother and 5 years later, she was a music educator to her daughter, despite her best efforts to avoid that path.

Now here she sits with instruments up to her ears and her grandpa’s mandolin which she has wanted to learn to play since inheriting it 2 years ago, and piles and piles of music that she uses every single day, that can never be put away because it’s an “active” pile.  Part of her wishes she had stayed the music education course.  Having little children read music and play instruments was never part of her vision for the future, but the present is a different reality.  Though managing all the music is difficult some days (especially when she gets a last-minute audition at 6:15 PM), she is grateful to witness the fruits of her labors and to keep her own musicianship from getting rusty.

What’s the sub-dominant of G Major? Anyone? Anyone?

See? ; )