Each year, I enjoy picking the theme for recital mostly because I enjoy finding new music, and it’s fun to see my students get excited about pieces that are not normally in their lesson books. This year, I scouted for some of the most famous classical compositions and the tunes that pop into your head because they are so well-known that they are used as background music in cartoons, re-occur in advertising, are sung as lullabies, etc. I let each student pick their own recital piece from a set of songs at their level, and I was surprised at how much they really enjoyed the melodies, along with learning valuable lessons about timing and rhythm from these songs.
I also got stuck on this funny idea about playing Name-That-Tune at the recital, as I thought parents would readily recognize most of the songs and it gave a bit of participation to the recital outside of the usual clapping and smiling. Here’s a sample of the program where (mostly the kids) filled in the names of tunes or guessed composers as the recital progressed.
The students also received a certificate and treat, and I just have to stop here to thank Cristian for his great graphic design skills on the invite, poster, program, and certificate. I’m lucky to have a husband that can help out with all of this, not to mention running the DVD so we had a real recording of the event to send home with each student this year. He is great.
We caught a fun group photo as well, so here it is for everyone. Thanks again to the parents who were so positive about the recital and to my students for putting their songs together so well. I think this year’s performances were the strongest so far, which makes all the work very worth it.
Back row: Heidi Icleanu, Carter Ashmun, Patrick Bauer, Katelyn Police, Jennifer Russell, Hanae Yoshida.
Middle row: Isabel Police, Lillian Beiting, Cate Conklin, Caroline Beiting, Miya Yoshida, Shailen Zimmerman, Uma Zimmerman, Brooke Russell.
Front row: Oliver Icleanu, Max deCastro, Rigdon Anderson, Abby Bauer, Katherine Monohan, Claire Glenney, Eden Russell, Selah Rust, Merayla Icleanu.
P. S. Since this is the family blog, I get to put a little more in here about my kids. It was Oliver’s first recital, and he was fearless and adorable. We played a duet, and he announced his song very clearly into the microphone so I’m glad his dad caught it on camera. Merayla played Morning by Grieg, and I loved how she finished it progressively soft with the pedal. She is very artistic and has a good ear for how a piece should sound. I am so proud of them!
