Remember When

Remember way back when -- when all I had to worry about was mushy trills? Those were the days. I am sick that after all the months (and in the case of the Bach piece - years) of study, I choked on performance night. I was happier with the practice runs I'd had earlier that day. I just feel like I was fighting the organ. My articulation came across legato, and for no apparent reason I made really loud, obnoxious mistakes from panicking. Perhaps this is one of the stages of performance. Because clearly I can look back a year ago and say this performance is way better than my last performance. But that bothers me too because I know that a year from now I will look back at this performance and think "wow, I am so much better now." Which brings me back to how embarrassing it is to be this limited now. Anyway, the yogurt afterwards was great.

Joecentric

The last post was Naji-centric. This post is going to be Joe centric. Joe has plumb worn me out this past week. He had concerts on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm just barely now recovering. Here are some highlights. 1) You know how I love Mozart (or you should know). 2) If you watch this video, make sure you check out his sweet solo at 1 minute 50 seconds 3) Nothing is sweeter that to see your boy in a flute choir. (Apparently this is the best way to meet girls) 4) And last but not least, here's Joe at the powwow And Joe, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I smooshed your car. And Jenna, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I forgot to ask Kevin to record your composition. Now we totally need to meet in some garden spot to make the music video.

Smooshy Trills

This semester, in addition to working on my non-legato articulation in my organ classes. I am also working on my smooshy trills. Apparently I start out ok, but then I get going too fast and my final notes loose all articulation and smash together. Smooshy. But isn't that how I live my life? This weekend was one of those smooshy trills. I raced to JoJo's band concert on Friday, got up before dawn on Saturday to practice and study before I had to pick up my vegetables and haul off the last of the caterpillar branches, study some more, then off to a fund raising fashion show, then race back to meet Joseph and Naji at the student powwow -- leave a little early so we can make it to Joe's orchestra concert. Go to bed, get up before dawn to practice and study, go to church, study, then go to Joseph's ensemble concert. Trust me. There will be more video to come. Let's start with the powwow and Naji. :)




 Also thanks to Charity for taking pics of Naji today. They were for her photography class. Man did we luck out that she picked Naji for her historic picture homages!

Fair Warning

I've had a couple of complaints that I cover events after they happen but never give notice that they are going to happen. So here's my notification. The organ recital for the Dixie State College of Utah organ students (of which I am one) is scheduled for Saturday the 28th of April at 7:00 at the St. George Tabernacle.

If you want to know more about what kind of organist I am, you can visit the SALSA (Society of Awesome Latter-dat Saint Accompanists) Pedal Points blog. This week's questionnaire features me. Here is the link,

More Beautiful

Have you ever noticed that there are those people who the longer you know them, the more beautiful they seem? And sometimes you think it is because the more you get to know them, the more you see their spirit shine through. And other times, it is because that person is growing and flourishing. Thriving. And you watch them blossom right before your eyes. When Jenna, our good friend (and fellow Southwest Fretted Philly), took the stage last night at Dixie College's Vocal Recital, my jaw dropped. I am used to her being more beautiful each time I see her, but her command of the stage was simply stunning.

And as an added bonus, she sounded great! I have always been a fan of her voice, but I could really see the work she'd put into her craft (although it is still fun to mock vocalists for skating by on their God given talent -- what are they a bunch of teacher's pets? -- or as we say in the field of theology, a bunch of best-beloveds)

Bow Ties are Cool

Bow Ties are cool. And so are people who accompany other people for credit. And so are kids who say, "Don't post this performance," and then add, "because my next performance will be so much better," and then it is. Way to go Joe!

(Love the Bow Tie!)

Quotidien

quotidien m (f quotidienne, m plural quotidiens, f plural quotidiennes) Daily, everyday.

My sister Judy blogs about her everday activities. Of course I feel some of that sibling envy as I read about her fixing up her house or yard. I know I need to do yard work. I jumped on the weeds in the front yard early this year. My yard is the bus stop after all. We spent an entire Saturday getting weeds out of my lovely landscape rocks so the elementary kids could have a nice place to wait. And then it rained and rained and now I have 3 times as many weeds as I had in the first place. But the weeds had to take a back seat to my caterpillar problem. My 30 foot cottonwood has been infested with tent caterpillar and all their gross nests and bleck, bleck, caterpillar poo in my driveway and a caterpillar in my hair. I'd had enough



Saturday morning,a couple of the boys and I went to Home Depot and bought instruments of destruction and protection and we went to war. We pruned the tree and cut down every nest our 15 foot pruner and six foot ladder could reach. We were blessed with a cool and rainy day. The caterpillars didn't know what hit them.

 I'd like to say, "Welcome to my quotidien blog post." But pruning a tree on a Saturday still doesn't make yard work an everyday occurrence especially when I can point to Cameron and Joe's recital performances and another Southwest Fretted Strings performance at a music fireside last night. I guess I still know where my priorities are.

Ahhhhh, Stress

I don't know if this will be as good of a post as it would have been if I had written it when I thought of it -- when my household was a ball of stress, but I will try my best. I wanted to talk about how we handle stress. As you know, Naji is now a performer. Last weekend he performed at the Bach Festival, and Wednesday his school choir performed at Tuacahn. Each performance stressed him to the verge of tears. A part of me wanted to get after him and tell him this was easy stress compared to what he will face in the future. Luckily a better part of me asked myself, "How am I teaching him to handle stress." He'd seen me choke as I accompanied Joseph on Friday night. He'd seen me panic that the ukulele number would "never work" as we prepared for Saturday night. And on Tuesday night, as I prepared to play the Bach Organ, he'd seen tears stream down my face.

To top it off Judea had a big film shoot last week, and she was a ball of nerves. Her instructor was insisting that she not only direct her short, but that she also film it. And Joe and Cameron and Bobo all had performances.

So what did Naji learn. Hopefully, he learned that we all understood that everyone was under stress. We gave people allowances and did what we could to ease each others' burdens. And best of all, we didn't stop. We muscled through the anxiety and did what we'd set out to do. Goals Completed!

Ahhhhh, Bach

The Bach Festival is in full swing. It kicked off Friday night with beginning strings and students. I, of course, will post the highlights here. I was sure proud of my beginning strings. It is hard to perform in front of people. Nerves kick in. Personally, I find myself wondering why I practiced so hard if everything I worked for flies out the window the minute my hands hit my instrument. But when I watch my kids, I think, "This is good for us." It's ok to work and work and work and not reach perfection. Bobo wrote a "What If" poem as an assignment in her English Class. I thought I would share it in this post...as well as a couple videos from the first night of the Bach Festival.

What If

 Tashiya Runs Through

What if poems
Wrote themselves
What would all the poets do

 Poets would become musicians

What if instruments
Played themselves
What would all the musicians do

 Musicians would become artists

What if paintings
Just appeared
 What would all the artists do

 Artists would become scientists 

What if inventions
Fell from the sky
What would all the scientists do

 Scientists would grow bored

 And if boredom
Ceased to be
 Bored people could
Write poems, Play music
Make art and Discover

 Just as every person should