Surprise Recital

This recital was not a surprise to the girls, but it was a surprise to their teacher. The recital was planned for right after Christmas break. And naturally there were no lessons during Christmas break and for a couple weeks before it. The girls had picked their recital pieces before lessons took a siesta, but both managed to change their pieces before the actual recital.

Richard is an awesome piano instructor and I admit I do not push the girls as much as he would like. This is probably because I want them to be self motivated. If they are playing for me, I feel like I am not wasting my money, but if they are playing for themselves, they are developing a talent and love for the piano that is priceless.

Daisy has been making up her own songs and she wanted to play one for the recital. But she only had perhaps 30 seconds of music. Richard liked her song, but he wanted her recital piece to be longer of course. Daisy said she would add some Christmas music to her piece and when lessons took a break, that was where we were at. For all Richard knew, Daisy was playing 30 seconds of music for her recital piece.

I think she knocked it out of the park. She spent a lot of time seeing which Christmas songs would go together and then made a medley that was well thought out. I helped her with one tweak, but other than that, it was all her own. I think Richard was pleasantly surprised because when she finished, he commented that he hadn't help her make that arrangement...she did it all on her own.

Here are my cute girls ready to play.

Daisy looked so pretty and confidant. She memorized her whole piece so she didn't have any music. She sometimes gets a little shy, so I was so proud of her excellent performance.

Robyn was slated to play an Enya song. Enya is always wonderful and soothing, but I think Robyn was using Enya as a fall back because she didn't have anything else she really wanted to play. Christmas brought Robyn a lot more music. We found a site online and downloaded some music and then Robyn found even more and picked out stuff she wanted to play. One of my favorites and the one she chose for her recital was Mad World. I texted Richard and told him she was switching pieces, but he had never heard her play it before.

At least the program was accurate. It would have been more awkward to play a song that wasn't listed.

Robyn did amazing. Her song sounded basic and beautiful, but it got more tricky as it went. There is a whole section that is played in octaves, meaning her hand is stretched an entire octave as she plays the notes. She was awesome. I think she made only one mistake and that was at the end.

Richard even played at the end. I loved seeing his wife, Jean, with him. They have been married less than a year. Richard made a whole Christmas album this season. It is excellent. He is supremely talented on the piano. You can listen on youtube. I'm so happy to have him teaching the girls.

You can't tell from the pictures, but everyone was there listening that night. Our last recital was sad, with only me in attendance because it was such a busy day, but this time the whole family was able to come. It was a wonderful night and all the performances were great. And we even got a picture with Santa on the way out.