Christmas Is For Concerts

Today is Thursday. The last 3 nights, we have had the opportunity to attend 3 concerts (1 each night, in case you were wondering) to see Adam perform with his school Jazz Band and Concert Band and Orchestra. He plays the piano in Jazz Band and Concert Band and plays the string bass in Orchestra. He has learned and practiced and become a great piano player. His teacher/conductor even commented on how much he has improved. It was a great thing to see him up there, performing.

Next week, Big Buddha, from Fox 13 News -- Utah, is coming to Lyssa's school because they won "Cool School of the Week". The band and orchestra will be performing. Lyssa has strict instructions to be there no later than 7:15 a.m. so that the band can get warmed up and play through their songs before perfoming on television. She can hardly wait! She is learning good things on the flute and enjoying her band experience. She and a friend are playing a duet of "Simple Gifts" for their concert later that day. She is doing so well with both her instruments. She is looking forward to signing up for band next year in junior high. We've been talking about how she could audition for the Granite Youth Symphony with the violin next year. Adam tells her that she is good enough to make it. I tell her that she could perform in a group that her grandma performed in when she was younger. She thinks that's pretty cool. I don't know if she'll go through with it; however, it's a good thing to consider.

This weekend, we will be going to see Jon Schmidt in concert. We saw some of his show last year, and loved it. We are looking forward to it.

Next week, Lyssa will be performing with the band and singing with her grade on a program that the students put on for the parents. This will be her last one! She's looking forward to the performing part of it all.

Why am I writing about all of these performances? When I was growing up, I was in bands, choirs, plays, musicals, etc. etc. I was always very busy in November and December, performing. There were the "end of semester" concerts for the band and choir. There was the dance performance in November. There were additional performances with Madrigals, an "elite" singing group. I sang, I accompanied, I played the flute and bassoon, I danced. It was all so fun! I really looked forward to the holidays because we started working on our Christmas songs at the beginning of October. Instead of being sick of the music, and wishing everything was over and done with, I looked forward to it all. I loved performing what we had worked so hard on. I loved sharing the spirit of the season with the audiences who came to see us perform. I loved the whirlwind. It made me appreciate when everything stopped so much more.

This year, the same thing is happening. This time, though, my crazyness is from planning and executing Christmas parties for several of the hats that I wear and a piano recital and watching my beautiful children share their burgeoning talents.

Isn't it great?

~Bobi