Music in the Air!

Tonight was one of our favorite annual Christmas events - the district Christmas Strings concert.

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls getting ready for the concert:


Morgan and her viola (not sure what's going on with the dress!)
Elise with her cello

I didn't get any good pictures of the actual concert - couple of reasons for that. One is that my flash was not working very well, everything was dark. Second is that we were sitting up kind of high. Third was Ashlyn was all over the place as usual, and I could not concentrate.

After the concert, they got their flowers. I'll have to come up with something new next time because they are becoming accustomed to the flowers (i.e. they expect them).

So, now that I've posted the pictures, I just have to say how grateful I am for this program. The teachers are great, and the classes are very small. Morgan is in her third year of viola - the first two years she had a one-on-one lesson! This year there is one other little girl in her class, but they are right about the same level so it's going great.

Elise just started on the cello this year. They aren't allowed to start on viola, cello, or bass until 2nd grade, so she has had two years of violin and now half year on cello. She loves the cello and I think she's going to be very good at it. She's a very natural musician. She has one other little boy in her class, and he was in her violin class last year. They can get a bit silly together but she has a lot of fun.

Ashlyn didn't participate in the concert tonight because the new students don't play until the May concert - but she's now been in violin for a couple of months and she's loving it. She has six in her class. She's telling me that she also wants to switch to cello in 2nd grade, but I'm kind of hoping she'll stick with violin so we can get some fun little quartets going, with Doug on piano (and me on the video camera!).

The way the concert works is that the most difficult pieces are first (thus, the most experienced players start), and then more kids join in on each song until everyone is playing at the end. Morgan played on everything except the first number. Elise played only one song, "Twinkle Theme in D Major". Usually the students who are new on their instrument don't play until May, but today her teacher said she was ready on that one, so she got to play after all. I'm glad, it was a fun experience for her even if she only played on one song.

Yay for music! Now if Doug and I would just get consistent on piano! I can't believe with the two of us as parents that they haven't gotten further into that than they have. Morgan is quite good though, when she plays. Elise hates to play piano at the moment but I'm walking the fine line of not forcing it because I really want her to love it someday. She has the most graceful fingers - I think from the moment she was born we've said that she'll be a good player someday because she has the fingers for it!

Then again, one of my favorite pianists, Elton John, has short little stubby fingers.

Anyway, a fun way to spend family home evening tonight! Doug said he got some good video...if I can figure out how to post it, I will.