recital time

Gracie's piano teacher, Miss Jeanette, and I started talking about a recital last summer. She has 4 students, and I have just one. Though our group is small, we weren't sure where to hold the recital. At the time, we didn't know anyone with a piano and the room for a crowd in their home. And the church is always a great option, but it can be difficult to see the performer well and video etc. Cori and I bought a new piano last summer and in the course of our shopping, I learned that the nearby-ish Steinway shop has a performance hall that they rent out for recitals and concerts for a pretty nominal fee. It's a great idea - they get paid to fill their showroom up with families that are invested in the piano. Anyhoo, we wanted to schedule the recital for before the holidays, but they were booked through January. 

The big day arrived. Miss J. and I decided our main goal for this first recital was to help the children feel confident playing in front of an audience. We had each student pick out 3 songs to play with their music.  The recital was short and sweet. I printed programs and Miss J. made cupcakes. Everyone played so well.

My heart was about ready to pop seeing our Gracie sit up to that 9 foot Steinway Concert Grand. (We were told we could take the piano home with us for a cool 130K.) She is a performer through and through, and her confidence never fails to surprise me. She carefully situated herself on the bench before each of her three songs. She stretched her neck and rolled her shoulders each time. She even cracked her knuckles once- I can be heard unsuccessfully snorting my laughter down on the video. Anytime there was a forte section of music, she confidently pounded it out with a big smile on her face. When I asked her about this later, she said, "I really wanted the people to feel the power of the music. And that piano is loud!"