life of seven

Piano weekend

As you might be able to tell from the pictures, Cate and Grace were in a piano competition yesterday. It was held at a piano store in Denver and the store must be heaven for experienced pianists. I wish I fell into that category, but sadly I do not. I can sight read my way around easy to intermediate music pretty well, but I know next to nothing about voicing and balance and making the piano sing.

Cate and Grace are experts at that. As soon as they sit down at the piano and begin to play, magically, music fills the room and my ears. Really, there is such a difference between typing at the piano, the way you would type at a keyboard, the way I do, and playing the exact same notes with the proper technique, with color, and emotion, and a delicate touch, using fingers, yes, but wrists, hands, arms, and, really the whole body, to get the most beautiful music out of the simplest notes.

So, as I said, a show room full of $40,000- $100,000 pianos must be heaven for them, since they actually know how to make those pianos sound like they are supposed to. My fingers are just not worthy of such instruments.

But, as you might be able to tell from the pictures, the girls warmed up on keyboards with headphones. I know my husband would love to have a keyboard like this in our house. Perhaps you've guessed that there are very few times of quiet at our house. Four children practicing on three pianos (literally a piano in every room that can be closed off) is, well, loud. Poor Ben. It is impossible to take a phone call in the house when all pianos are going. We try to work around each other, with scheduling, and compromise, and rotation, but it's hard. The funny thing about the keyboards at the store is that I could still hear Cate across the showroom. Not the notes, but I could hear her pounding away with her hands nonetheless. As it is, she plays rather aggressively, and both her pieces she performed yesterday were big, modern, and quite aggressive. I'll have to tell Ben that even if we replaced our pianos with keyboards, it would still not be completely quiet.

The competition was in Denver, and Grace played just before two, and Cate not until after six, because there were 24 entries. We had four hours to kill in between. Both girls played their pieces very well, and were quite pleased. I had no idea about how they would place with so many entries. 

After we left, we were told we would get a phone call if either placed in the top three and be invited to  perform at an honors recital, otherwise, we would need to wait for an email later that evening.

As I drove home, we optimistically talked about how well they did, and I told them how proud I was, and surely the judges must have loved them...but as each mile passed, and the phone didn't ring, I began to get more and more convinced that surely we would have heard back if they actually won anything.

Finally, I pulled into Fort Collins well over an hour after the competition had ended, and no phone call. Well, too bad, I told Cate and Grace, but I'm still so proud of the wonderful performances you did. There were so many in this competition, and it must have just been a very tough one...

Ring, ring...

Can you imagine how the three of us squealed when we heard the phone ring? The sweetest music we had heard all day.

"Hello?"

"Yes, is this Jennifer? I have some good news for you."

"Oh, wonderful!" 

Cate and Grace were jumping up and down as best they could while buckled in their seats.

"Grace has tied for third place in the competition today."

Of course I was thrilled with this, but I also felt a slight sinking feeling. What about Cate? Had she not won anything, then?

"We would like her to be back tomorrow evening to play in an honors recital, and get a photo taken. The judges would like her to play the Bartok piece."

"Okay, that sounds great! What exciting news."

"I also have more good news for you."

"Oh, great!" Hopefully he is going to tell me that Cate won honorable mention!

"Catharine has tied for first place." What a perfect surprise!

By now the girls could tell by my face that they had both won something, but I made sure to not let on by my side of the conversation what it was.

"The judges would like her to play Rachmaninoff."

"Sounds great. I'll tell them. I guess we'll see you tomorrow."

I hung up and Cate and Grace shrieked, "What, what, what???"

"Grace tied for third place and gets to play in the honors recital tomorrow!"

"Really?! Hooray! That's so great!"

"Aaannnd...."

"What? What?"

"Cate tied for....FIRST!"

You can only imagine their excitement at the news. What a great ending to the day. I was so happy about the outcome, of course. Both girls won a cash prize, as well. They were greeted by their grandparents that evening with a bouquet of flowers. I bought a chocolate pie for everyone to share. Today, they get to dress up and play at a fancy recital. What a fun weekend that turned out even better than we could have hoped.

 

Our "Thomas Jefferson Education"

I happened upon this cozy scene this afternoon when I was trying to figure out just where and if my older children were doing school. Of course, in Cate and Grace's little attic room. It's chilly out today and there are still screens in place of window glass so the blankets were a necessity.

The final photo is from Gideon's book he's reading about Thomas Jefferson (or Tommy Jeff, as Gideon and I like to call him. Don't ask.). Considering A Thomas Jefferson Education is probably my favorite home schooling book that best describes my educational philosophy (but isn't a perfect depiction because I stray from it where I feel I should), I was quite interested in reading what Jefferson considered a suitable way to learn each day. 

In case you are having trouble reading it, he says to his daughter Patsy:

"From 8 to 10 o'clock practice music

From 10 to 1 dance one day and draw another

From 1 to 2 draw on the day you dance and write a letter the next day

From 3-4 practice French

From 4-5 exercise yourself in music

From 5 till bedtime read english, write, etc."

I find his emphasis on drawing and music interesting. One would assume the schedule would be filled from dawn till dusk with language lessons, sentence diagramming, Latin and the seemingly (to me)  boring like.  I asked my kids how they liked the schedule and they said it sounded too rigorous going without a break from 8 till bedtime. Our schedule is more like:

7-10 practice music (juggling 4 kids on 3 pianos ensures everyone gets more or less 2 hours of practice time)

10-12 math lesson,

12-2 reading, and sewing after that for Cate and Grace.

Writing happens most days as well.

Oh, we eat lunch, too, actually.

Evie is doing a more formal reading and writing lesson, and I am happy to reinvent the schedule if a project comes up that I think the children would get a lot out of, so our days don't quite look exactly like that, but you get the general rough, very rough, idea. And of course everything takes much longer than it should on paper so somehow this schedule doesn't get done till around 4 or 5 most days. Maybe I can cram an hour to draw in there. Wouldn't that be nice.

I think it's funny how Jefferson wrote to his daughter, "Learning will render you more worthy of my love." Not quite the general philosophy of our day, is it? Hahaha. I hope when my children read statements like that, as well as finding out about Patsy's recommended educational schedule, it will remind them that I am a very very very nice mommy.

Gideon

See that adorable gap-toothed boy in the picture there? Yes, yes, he is in the process of getting his teeth straightened- and is going to be in it for the long haul, with first an expander (that he has now) for six months and then braces after that, and then maybe a year or two off, and then another eighteen months or so of braces after that- but that's not he purpose of my post today, fortunately. Anyway, this boy you see here has made us very proud by winning the statewide elementary level piano concerto competition last weekend! He will be performing his Bach Concerto in f minor with the Colorado Chamber orchestra in a concert next month! We're pretty excited around here, as you might guess. It's nice when the hard work of learning to play piano pays off occassionally in a big way. Congratulations Gideon!

Cate and Grace

Look at my beautiful girls, who are beautiful musicians as well. Here is the section where I spend paragraphs writing about what a joy they are to me, and how they are the sweetest girls anyone could ever meet, how smart, accomplished, hard-working, sensitive, caring, and what genuinely lovely people they are, and they are all of those things. Sometimes God gives us things far better than we deserve, and far greater than what we worked for, and that is most definitely the case with sweet Cate and Grace.

Yes, I spent lots of time, energy, and effort raising them, and teaching them, and listening to piano practice, and praying with them, and reading to them, it's true. But I also spent a large amount of time apologising for my mistakes, and lying in bed at night wishing I had done, this or, that, wanting to get hours of my day back where I'd crashed and burned, frustrated at where I was failing. I think- no, I know God heard my prayers: each and every prayer I ever prayed, asking for wisdom to raise my kids. And then He helped me try to implement the things He showed me. In the places I royally failed, somehow or other, He made up for it. Isn't that exactly what grace is? Grace for help in time of need. Thank God. 

So despite my efforts, and in spite of them, somehow these two beautiful young ladies became a product of our home, and I still scratch my head in amazement.

(Incidentally, they played very well at their competition yesterday. We'll find out toward the end of the week if they won.)

The photos are from early this morning, when we woke up to a beautiful blanket of white; the beauty of it makes me feel like shouting: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Praise God.

I wrote a...Book!

See that? I wrote a book last year, without even really trying! Well, that's not strictly true, but it is true that it didn't seem to take nearly as much effort as what it looked like when I saw it all, bound up into one thick book. (Did that make sense? I feel that sentence was akin to Bilbo in Lord of the Rings: "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.")

Blog2print was the website I used, and of course the instant I ordered one for us as well as the grandparents, I began getting 20% off  coupons in my email. Oh, well. I'll use it next year.

This has been a busy week for us. Cate and Gideon both recorded their piano concertos for a competition, and Grace and Cate are in a piano competition this Sunday. I hate doing live recordings. Even if I'm not the one doing the piano playing. Of course our memory card ran out of space the first day. So we tried again on day two. And of course one of the recording had a glitch in the middle of it and cut out two minutes of the piece. Despite these frustrating attempts I think Cate and Gideon both ended up each with a good audition.

Now I am off to make breakfast for some mid-week breakfast company. That makes for a fun change on a Wednesday, but I will have to try to recover and still fit everything in today. I think I'm still trying to find my rhythm after the holidays...

Piano Competition: Cate

After Evie and Gideon's successful competitions, Cate's was the final one of the day. Grace wasn't competing in this one at all, as she would be entering the concerto competition the next morning in Denver. I was so happy for Gideon and Evie, but I was now feeling the pressure for Cate since she really had worked so dilligently on her pieces and I was hoping she would be rewarded for all the work. Her first piece, August, by Tchaikovsky, had never been a favorite of hers. She had to do one piece from the romantic era, but she never really cared for this one much, and besides that, her second piece was much, much harder and so she put most of her practice time into it.

Unfortunately, August really did not go very well. Many parts of it were played beautifully, but the two difficult runs, in both the beginning and near the end, she messed up pretty badly. My heart started pounding. I hadn't heard the rest of the group because we had to literally run over to her room the second Gideon was done playing to make it in time, but I had seen the repertoire listed for the other competitors and it was very advanced. I hoped Cate could pull it together on her second piece, "Suite de Danzas Criollas" by Ginastera. This is a piece that's really a little too big for Cate still, and over time is going to continue to sound better and better. Each individual section she knows really well, and when practicing, has begun to sound really, really good, but playing it through from start to finish is a different story, because it is an extremely fast piece, that requires lots of accuracy, and is also very powerful and she is pretty exhausted by the end of it. Maintaining the proper tempo, and getting through the difficult passages has been more or less hit and miss. 

Well, thankfully, at the moment she needed it most, it was mostly a hit. It was definitely one of the best tiems she had played the piece, and I was ridiculously proud of her for recovering from a messy piece to play her harder one extremely well. I didn't know what the outcome would be due to not seeing any of the other kids in her group play, but I hoped they would reward her for playing such a high level piece, despite messing the other one up in a couple of parts.

We sat around waiting and I must admit it was the most agonizing part of the day. I kept telling her how great she had done, and how good she had played Danzas, but in my heart I hoped the judges had thought so as well. Finally I saw the lady walking up to the board with the results and I asked Cate if she wanted me to check for her.

"Yes!"

"Are you sure?"

"YES!"

Oh, please, I thought to myself as I walked up to the board. "Catharine Davenport" was listed under the list of winners. Under the list of repertoire the judges wanted her to play at the recital was "Danzas De Criollas." Apparently that piece won the comeptition for her! It must have been impressive.

"You did it!" I cried, running over to her, hugging her. "Hooray! Great job!"

Gideon said, "I was even happier when I saw that Cate won than when I won!" Oh, the sweetness. That boy.

"Guess what piece the judges want you to play at the recital?" I teased Cate.

"I don't know, August?" She replied sarcastically, with a huge smile on her face.

Here is the video of the successful "Danzas." Forgive the bad angle; I do believe the music comes through!

Piano Competition: Gideon

So, today, Gideon gets his own piano post about the competition Saturday. You can most likely tell by the photos that, he, too, placed in his category and won a trophy.

I wasn't too nervous for my boy- almost every time he performs, it comes out about ten percent better than what he does practicing at home. I'm not quite sure where he got that ability- most like from his father because I am most certainly the opposite- when under pressure, I fall to pieces and pretty much worthless at what I was trying to do.

Gideon didn't disappoint me: the only piece I was nervous about was Solfeggietto by C.P.E. Bach. It issupposed to be played extremely fast and even. Gideon can't play it extremely fast- he can play it fast, but not extremely. And, the evenness? Well, he's put hours and hours of practice into that and while it's improved a bunch, it's still not completely there.

When I got to the competition, I read through the program and saw that something like ten other kids were playing Solfeggietto. None from his group, thankfully, but by the time it was his turn the judges would have surely heard the piece numerous times and would probably cut him even less slack then I was hoping for.

Fortunately, Solfeggietto came first on his program so he could end with his stronger piece. And, like I hoped, it was one of his best performances of the piece. There was one spot in particular that stood out to me as uneven, but in general it was pretty smooth. I was thankful that he chose a slow enough tempo that he could keep it even and mistake free, rather than let his nerves get the better of him and zoom through it much faster than he could handle. But, as I said, the kid has no nerves. Apparently I have enough nerves for the whole family, enough to go around and more to spare. That's fine, I'll keep them, since it's not like I ever need to perform in stressful situations. I just have to avoid a heart attack when my children do.

His second piece, Fluttering Leaves by Kolling, is extremely conducive to Gideon's style of  playing, especially when he is performing. It very dramatic, with fast and slow sections, loud and soft, and when he is onstage all of a sudden he turns on the charm and musicality and it's like it's a different person than who I'm used to listening to at home. Gideon didn't disappoint me; the piece was fun and exciting like it should be and I knew he had done extremely well for himself. I wasn't too worried about the result because he had done such a great job playing, doing it just like he'd been taught and practiced, and it was an accomplishment in itself. We had to fly out of the room, literally fly, the second he was done, because his group was running way behind and Cate was going to be up next in a different room, so I didn't have a chance to nervously wait to check the board for the winner. After Cate's performance, we had only a few minutes to wait to see the result: sure enough, the judges seemed to like Gideon as much as I did (well I suppose that's not reaaly true: a mom could never be impartial about her child's playing, I've learned), and he won in his group, as well! Way to go, Gideon!

P.S., here is Gideon's performance on youtube. This was at the honors recital and it went even better than at the competition, I think. Doesn't your heart melt at the sight of boys in suit coats and ties, especially when playing the piano? Mine does.

Evening recital

 

A few times a year, all the piano practicing that the kids do pays off in the form of a recital or competition or some such thing. Pays off in the performance sense, that is, beyond learning piano for its own sake, which can sometimes feel arbritrary. This month is a busy season piano performance-wise. Next Saturday is a city-wide piano festival/comepetition that Cate, Gideon and Evie are going to be performing in. Sunday of that same weekend Grace is in a concerto competition in Denver at Boettcher Hall, where the Colorado Symphony performs. It is by far the biggest competition she has ever entered, with cash prizes for the winners and the opportunity to perform with the Colorado Symphony.

Last Friday was a piano recital of sorts, that allowed the kids to perform their pieces and hopefully get any jitters out. On that count I think it was a success. Gideon played the easiest of his two pieces, however it was the more artistically demanding one, "Fluttering Leaves in A Minor" by Koelling. It was a good chance for him to see how it played out in a performance. He did really well, missing a few dynamic markings that I as a parent would know, and that his teacher would know, too, of course but for the rest of the audience it was close to flawless. He always looks like he is having a great time when he is on stage. He is better about it now, but when he was younger he would always look at me to see if  I noticed if he played something well, or if he messed up here, or just to say with his eyes, "I'm having such a good time, Mom." He has outgrown that habit a little bit, but he still plays with a grin on his face, or maybe a smirk, I never can be sure with that boy. The sight of a ten year old boy in a suit coat and tie, playing piano while thoroughly enjoying himself could melt a heart of stone. Then again, that is coming from said boy's mother.

Cate played next to last and she was pretty nervous during the entire recital. To her mind, with good reason. It was her first time trying out a new piece, and it's by far the most difficult piece she has ever learned. "Suite Danzas Criollas" by Ginastera has been in her practicing roster for about eight months, and it is a piece that she will probably hang onto for a couple of years. It is a very rhythmic, very fast, very loud, therefore exhausting to play. She is fairly out of breath at the end of it and right now it is at the stage where she must just play it and go, hoping she hits the right keys on all the jumps and octaves. That's why this will be one that is just going to improve over the next few years. Anyway, for a first time performance, she did really, really well. She got to the right keys on most of the leaps, which has been the most challenging part of it for her lately, voiced the melody well (which is difficult in a modern piece that is extremely rhythmical), and made it through. It wasn't the performance she was hoping for, though better than it felt like to her at the time. Again, most of the mistakes were something that only those familiar with the piece would notice. It was definitely a good run through to give her the confidence that she could actually perform the piece. I was proud of her for pushing through a performance where circumstances weren't what she preferred, nevertheless not letting on to the audience how she felt. And the piece sounded beautiful.

Grace closed out the recital with her Bach concerto. We weren't able to wheel a second piano into the church, nor bring our own keyboard in for her accompaniment, so it ended up being a solo performance (a concerto is a piece featuring a solo instrument to be played with an orchestra: Grace is lucky enough to have my sister for an aunt, who is the best accompanist she could possibly hope for).

I honestly think it was the best time she has ever performed the piece. I know it backwards and forwards, due to both girls having learned it, and it being in Grace's repertoire now for close to a year and a half. It really does make a difference to be that comfortable with whatever is being played. She wasn't the least bit nervous and was instead able to put her energy and thoughts into the music and she played straight from her heart. I think it will always stand out to me as one of her memorable performances. I'm feeling good about her competition next weekend, but leaving Fort Collins, where it's much easier to be a big fish in a small pond, to Denver, a much, MUCH bigger pond, makes me wonder what size fish we are. If that made any sense whatsoever. Hah.

All in all the night was a success for all three children. I am eager to see how next weekend goes after all the hard work they have put into practicing.

 

Piano and dirty faces

 

There is lots of piano practice going on lately, as usual I suppose, however the fall is pretty busy for the kids preparing for upcoming recitals and competitions. Cate and Grace are learning the same Mozart concerto, No. 21. Yes, the exact same notes. We are hearing a lot of Mozart around here. Grace is playing a Bach concerto in D minor and Gideon is learning one in F minor. Gideon is also playing Solfeggietto by C.P.E. Bach ( J.S. Bach's son). Therefore we are hearing a lot of Bach as well. Somehow I don't get tired of the kids pieces being played over and over. In fact, I absolutely love listening to them play, no matter how many times I've heard the piece. This is a very weird parallel, but I think it is for the same reason that I don't mind changing my own babies' diapers but definitely do not like to change the diapers of other people's babies. Or I don't get grossed out feeding my kids even when they get food all over themselves and make a mess of themselves and the high chair and everything around them, but if it's someone else's baby it's somehow much more disgusting (Have you ever noticed that, by the way?)

Well, I hope you don't think I am comparing beautiful music to dirty diapers, but it is funny how much more we are tolerant of our own children's faults (and accomplishments) than other people's kids. And that's as deep as I am going to get on that subject for today. But that is my not so subtle segue-way into explaining why I put up a photo of Truman's dirty face on the blog today. I probably didn't even notice it (I did, actually, but thought it was sort of cute)!

Back to Life

I'm trying to get back into life this week. On the one hand having an early August baby is convenient because it's just before school starts, so no need to interrupt any studies. On the other hand, it's just before school starts, and trying to get into life with a brand new baby and get four students back to school again feels a little overwhelming.

I sort of feel like I need a new and inspiring plan for this school year, but I frankly am not feeling too inspired about it. We have done a bunch of projects over the summer, which I've loved, and want to continue into the school year, but I am trying to figure out how to balance them with the other subjects I feel we need to get in. Do these subjects require textbooks? Ew, except for Saxon Math (one day I will write an ode to Saxon Math on this blog- I love it so!) I have avoided textbooks like the plague. But maybe I should just bite the bullet and get at least a science text book so we can just have our bases covered. I so much prefer for them to sit down and read a book and learn about a subject that way, but though more interesting, it's not always the most methodical method and I wonder if the kids have a few gaps in their learning because of it. 

One thing I want to continue with some more sewing projects with Cate and Grace. They really enjoy them and I am thrilled they are learning to sew without the intimidation factor that I seem to have always felt, and feel, when faced with a sewing project. Yes, I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine, and sewing in general. I have done enough sewing that I feel like should both be and feel more competent than I am. The girls are becoming quite skilled and I am proud of them.

And yes, I have managed to get a shot of all THREE of our pianos intoday's post- they have been getting their daily workout, that is for sure. Today I will be back to taking the kids to their piano lessons for the first time since baby, and helping them where I can with their pieces. Well, I have been doing that for the last week or so, actually- sitting down to nurse the baby while listening to whatever it is they are practicing. They have a pretty busy fall ahead of them with quite a few piano events and competitions coming up. They have been working so hard and after spending 6-8 months on their pieces, it is getting exciting to hear them come together and start to get all the details added. Learning a new piece is a test of endurance, indeed.

So that's where I am at- returning to life, and throughout the day, I often stop and quietly pray, "God, help me!" There is a lot going on, that is for sure, and I need His help and strength to make it through the day. The labor that brings a new baby into the world is like a snapshot, or perhaps more like time-lapse photography, of the next 18 years ahead: Lots of work, lots of effort, lots of times where you feel you won't make it, but so worth it and rewarding in the end.