Christmas Recital

Before the Christmas Eve Children's Mass, Anton and Isabella were asked to have a short recital along with other students of the Music Director. Anton and Isabella were the youngest of her students to perform and their strengths and weaknesses were shown. Anton was quite a bit more nervous than Isabella as he played the air piano in his seat while once more looking at the notes. He had just managed the finger placement for the difficult part of Carol of the Bells. Also adding to his uneasiness was being able to play on the church's grand piano and not his keyboard at home. But, like his father, he decided to stop fretting and get it over with by volunteering to go first. I thought he did great, but like me, he focused on the imperfect parts. His instructor said it was her fault for not having him come to practise on the grand piano before as the keys are slightly farther apart than his keyboard. She thought he did wonderful and commented the other students who have been taking lessons for over 5 years and their lack of practise was showing. She believes Anton and Isabella did so well because they practise and it is coming easy to them.

Isabella had said she would like to go first after Anton spoke up, but a glare from her mother knew she needed to wait. Isabella has no fear of being in front of others, she rather likes the attention. This created an air of her being older or more mature than other girls at age six. But if one looked at her seat they would have noticed Sara, her doll dressed just like her, waiting for her return. She was fortunate I had ran out of time and could not make dresses this year. The dress she picked just happened to come with a matching dress for her doll. Isabella was asked to play We Three Kings even though she wanted to play Anton's more difficult song. She loves a challenge and does not like to have her brother complete things before her. At home, she would practise his song anytime she could sneak over to the keyboard. The grand piano was not viewed as a difficulty but a special privilege, however, she did not have a section of eighth notes to play amid quarter notes.

Overall, they were great. They have only been taking lessons from this instructor since September and before leaving CT they only had 8 months of lessons with Kristen. It is a combination of Anton's love of repetition and the feeling of accomplishment mixed with Isabella's love of all things artistic and need to overcome any obstacle. I am very proud of them and hope they can continue at this pace. Their instructor has hopes too, she needs to find someone who can someday replace her. The local area has a shortage of musicians who can play the organ causing their director to be very busy with other churches in addition to ours. But becoming adept at playing the organ takes decades and piano is the first step.