Arabian Nights Recital

Here we are in the car on the way to the piano recital tonight.  It was a wonderful affair, a really nice performance for all the kids who worked so hard on their pieces of music.

Here they are, all lined up for the opening song they sung together, "Arabian Nights."  Madison does not like this song!  We have no idea why!  It's that opening song from "Aladdin," although the wording is somewhat edited to be a bit more pleasant.  Still, she soldiered on and practiced this, the big group number, and of course her "Pachelbel Canon in D" over and over again.  She was so tired of practicing this song, and yet she'd do it again and again, trying to get it just right.

She did very well tonight, and we're very, very proud of her.  She had poise and grace, and sat quietly on her bench, starting nearly right away.  She was nervous, but it didn't show.  She did so well!

Here some of the kids are in the "dugout," the place where they are waiting to play next.  We were right there along the side, and you can see here how everyone is dressed.  Madison has a special outfit just for today, and we loaned a lot of costuming to Mrs. Pam for the others as well.  In fact, Daddy even loaned a fez to one of the kids in the picture at the top.  Fez!

Mrs. Pam, as usual, had the place decorated in a wonderful way.  There was a marketplace feel to one side, and even a flying carpet on the other side.  Fruit, baskets, brass, and carpets - they were all placed throughout the display, and it was as if we were transported to a place where the caravan camels roam, where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense - it's barbaric, but hey, it's home!

Anyway, they all played wonderfully.  This was Madison's hardest challenge yet.  And this was the last recital of the program too.  After five years, we've been taking Madison each Tuesday to piano, and we've been watching as she's grown in her skills.  She's never really complained too much at all about practice, although we've always tried to throw out different motivational rewards for completing this or that.  Still, it's tough and I can imagine during those tricky moments to step away from it a bit.  Nevertheless, she stays with the piano, and keeps on trying to get better with it.  And yes, she is.  Far better than Mommy and Daddy are, for sure.  But a huge part of it is Mrs. Pam's class, and how fun she makes it.  The kids really enjoy the class, a mixture of learning, fun, and of course increasing their skills.  It's been a good run!

But it isn't over yet, we don't think.  The kids have petitioned for a post-graduate year, and Mrs. Pam was asked a few times by the kids themselves tonight:  "Can we have one more year?"  Her answer so far seems to suggest that there might in fact be another year, as there are enough interested kids - begging kids, really - to make having another year a reality.  We hope so, for sure, because this has been a most 'funderful' period of our lives.