Christmas Music Everywhere

Happy 2015, everyone! The holiday season is officially over, and we're at the beginning of another new year. However, since I haven't finished chronicling the previous year yet, get ready for several more holiday-related blog posts before starting in with the 2015 news.

Posts like this one, for instance!

Since Christmas is a more musical time of year than average, our family spent much of the last full week before Christmas listening to (and performing) lots of Christmas music. This started out on Sunday the 14th, when my friend Shannon invited me to her house to participate in a sing-along of Handel's Messiah. Shannon and her family are very musically talented, and it was a pleasure to sit in her comfortable home, surrounding the piano and singing a timeless oratorio with other like-minded souls. This was only the second Messiah sing-along I'd ever attended, but it was still great fun. I just wish I knew the alto part better...I pretty much sight-read the whole thing! Luckily, Shannon and her husband Rich lent/gifted me a copy of the music, for me to study and play at my leisure throughout the year. Hopefully this will help me be a better participant for Christmas 2015!

My youngest kid had a musical "surprise" prepared for me as well. Aurora's preschool class performed a cute Christmas song for us on their last day of school before the break:

 She was smiling and so enthusiastic the whole time. I am so in love with my baby girl, and I can't believe she is halfway through preschool, and that much closer to kindergarten. Yikes!

Lorelai seems to be following in her mom's footsteps musically, at least for now. She was very busy performing music this holiday season. Her first performance was with her beginning band class at school; she had been practicing her trombone part for months. In fact, when the band director Mr. Mark invited the kids to try out a solo, Lorelai volunteered to do so! She was very nervous, but I admire her courage in trying, even though she hasn't been playing trombone for very long.

Here's the song with Lorelai's solo; it's a number called "Who Let The Elves Out?" (a jazzy riff on "Good King Wenceslas"). Apologies for the video quality; I was never able to get a clear look at Lorelai (she's sitting in the very middle of the band and wearing a Santa hat, so her face is very hard to spot!). Her solo kicks in at about the three-minute mark.

Lorelai was a little disappointed in her solo, but I thought it was just fine for a first try! I hope it will give her the confidence boost she needs to keep improving in this instrument, and improving as a band performer. She seems to enjoy band so far, so we'll see how long her interest lasts.

Besides trombone, Lorelai is still playing the piano. I'm doing my best to teach her; we have had a few hiccups, but overall she's been making steady improvement! In fact, for my semi-annual piano recital on December 19th, Lorelai chose as one of her songs "Reindeers Are Better Than People," a song from my Frozen movie song book.

 I was surprised she wanted to play anything from my Frozen piano book; I initially thought all those songs were above her ability. But she was determined to play it, and she worked really hard on it for weeks! At first, I was worried she wouldn't get it done in time...but it turned out very well. I was so proud of her for challenging herself, and I think it has given her a lot more self-confidence going forward.

At my Christmas recital, the kids all get to pick a Christmas song to learn as well; Lorelai chose "The First Noel," and she performed it without her music! I haven't been teaching memorization to my kids, but several of them played sans book at the recital anyway. It was thrilling! Clearly, I need to push some of these kids a little harder.

 I am always worried going into the Christmas recital, but I am always thrilled when it's over. I probably say this every year, but this may have been the best Christmas recital yet. I was so proud of every single one of my kids; they had many personal-best performances and took a lot of chances. I am so lucky to have this great group of kids as my students!

Of course, once all the pressure to perform was off, we had to let loose a little...

 

After the recital, one more musical extravaganza remained: the Christmas program at our church's sacrament meeting. It's usually done the Sunday before Christmas, so the big day in 2014 was December 21st. As ward choir director, I have been dreading/eagerly anticipating this Sunday for a few months now. The choir performed three songs this year (up from the two they did last year), and I was very pleased with how all of them turned out. We sang arrangements of "Still, Still, Still," "Away In A Manger," and "With Wondering Awe." Two of those songs had cello accompaniment, and we were lucky enough to have a guest cellist travel all the way from Tucson to perform for us! It added a nice dimension to our songs that we otherwise wouldn't have had.

My beautiful student Paloma; I've been teaching her for almost 4 years now!

I am grateful to know so many musically talented people; it makes my job as choir director much much easier. It also makes my holiday season more musical and magical. Perhaps knowing how to play piano makes the holidays busier, but it also makes them much more enjoyable.