This year, both Meagan and Jacob took piano lessons. Their teacher, a woman in our ward, is of the opinion that performances are an integral part of her teaching, so she holds regular recitals for her students to perform in public (along with all the nervousness and pressure that this generates). The recital at the end of this semester was, predictably, Christmas-themed. Both Meagan and Jacob did extremely well. For Meagan, while not her first recital, it was certainly her largest. For Jacob, it was his first.
Each of the kids did at least one solo piece, a duet, and played accompaniment for vocals (either a soloist or many voices).
Meagan did a solo of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"...
...and another of Liebestraum (which, while not strictly Christmas-themed, was a classical piece she has worked hard on this semester).
Jacob's accompaniment was to Meagan singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain".
Their duet was Good King Wenceslas.
Because of technical difficulties (who knew that videos took up so much memory on a camera's SD card???), I did not get Jacob's solo or "We Three Kings", and Meagan's accompaniment to "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" was cut short by about 2/3 of the song.
This is the whole group of students together after the recital. They all were excellent (and Meagan got to spend more time with her friend Emma - thick as thieves, those two...) and both Sarah and I were impressed with how well they all did.
Here is another photo of just Meagan and Jacob with their teacher. They really did make a lot of progress this semester. I was pretty darn impressed with how far they went. Both of them are learning to sight-read, a skill that I sadly never mastered (my piano playing likely would not have fizzled out the way it did if I had). We are so blessed to have children that understand the value of good music in the home.
- Josh
Great job kids. We are so proud of you.
ReplyDeleteJosh and Sarah, you have amazing children!
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