We got a new piano teacher this year and one thing she does differently is have her kids participate in Festival. Festival is where you practice and memorize two pieces of music and perform it in front of a couple of Judges. The judges take notes and then give you a score based on how you performed the highest score being superior. Ryker and Avynlea were both signed up to participate but after seeing how Avynlea struggled with learning her piece we all agreed the best option for her would be to opt out. This was her first year playing and it was so frustrating for her and so it was a good decision to not make her do it. Next year though she will be involved. So it was a lonely Ryker who went to play at festival.
Saturday morning in the beginnings of March I drove Ryker to his performance. I left pretty early because I have never been to this place and since I have my Dads obsessiveness about hating to be late I wanted to give myself plenty of time to arrive on time. I had directions from the head person of the festival but those directions led me to Eagle High School and not where I was supposed to be. I drove and drove and drove all around trying to find this dumb place. I called our piano teacher and she did not answer and I called a friend whose kids were doing the same thing and she had no idea. I finally called Kefford and he got online and told me how to get there. We finally arrived and i was pretty ticked about the whole thing but trying to be cool for Rykers sake. I knew he was pretty nervous and he did not need his Mom blowing her gasket.
So after all that it was a good thing I left early because I was only late by five or ten minutes. Ryker almost immediately went in and since I could not go in with him I watched through the window.
When he came out I asked him how he did and he said OK but he repeated a measure. I told him that was fine since he didn't act like he messed up he just kept playing. I was worried though that he would not get the superior scoring but tried not to let it bother me since I was just proud that he actually did it.
When we finally found out how he did, about a week later, Ryker and I were both excited about his score. Yup he got Superior! I am so proud of him and his hard work. Ryker definitely complains the most about practicing but he has such great talent. One of the notes from the judge was "You are a musical boy- keep persisting carefully and you will go far" I really hope he sticks with it because he is a really good pianist.
On a side note, one of his judges was the wife of the composer whose music he was playing..pretty fun!
So a couple of weeks later Aynlea and Ryker had a little recital for the parents. It was on a Saturday at 3:00. At about 2:10ish that day I got a call from my friends husband whose daughter was in the same recital asking if we were coming to the recital. I said yes and he said they were all waiting for us. What? He said the time was at 2:00! I could not believe it. I rushed the kids inside and hurried Ryker and Avy into their nice clothes. I looked at Rykers notebook and sure enough it said 2:00. I could not figure out where I got 3:00 from. We got there at about 2:30 to find everyone still waiting on us. I felt super bad. Ryker was up first and he did awesome!
While we were waiting for Avynleas turn I took some random pictures of Rylee and Kenedy!
Finally Avynlea had her turn and although she never smiled she looked beautiful and did a fantastic job!
Wendy, the teacher, had two recitals one the night before and then the one on Saturday. Our recital only had a handful of kids performing and so we got out of their in about half an hour. That was nice not having to sit through a bunch of, *ahem* boring *ahem* songs. Ha!
I am really happy with how all of my kids are progressing on their piano playing and anticipate having a very musical family in the years to come. :o)
One more side note, I looked in Avynleas notebook on the way home and saw that Wendy had written 3:00 as the recital time. So no I am not time management challenged. I was very happy to realize our lateness was not my fault. Phew!