Christmas Recital 2011

The Christmas Recital went very well! (Beyond what I expected.) I thank God for helping each student through. I was extremely nervous, but as I told one of my students, nervouseness can be a gift from God, in that it makes us rely on Him more.

The first half of the recital was all of the students' solos. I jumbled them up so we didn't go in grade order or level order. The second half was duets with voice and instrument accompanying. I love playing for people to sing or play their instruments with and I wanted to help my students learn how to do it. They got lots of practice on listening to each other and working as a team.

Rachel played, "Carol of the Bells." She wasn't too happy about having to go first, but she did a beautiful job!

Anna played, "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy." It was a complicated song and she nailed it splendidly.

Jared played, "Deck the Halls." Before the recital he kept saying, "I know I'm gonna mess it up," but  he did a really good job. :-)

Kelly played, "Ding Dong, Merrily on High." She had this song memorized several weeks in advance which was impressive since we changed some of it.

Parker played, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" He played like a pro and remembered all of his half notes. :-)

Robert played, "The First Noel." He started piano not too long ago, so playing for the recital was a stretch, but he made it through.

Daniel played, "Good King Wenceslas." He has only been playing for about three months and he did awesome.

Michael played, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." He is great at making up his own songs and playing by ear, so it was hard for him to do a song written as music, but he worked hard and did a good job. By the way, if anybody needs a soundtrack, he's GREAT at writing movie music. This guy reads a picture book and composes a symphony for it.

Drew played, "Jingle Bells." The song had a pretty hard left hand so he had to work really hard on it. His labors sure payed off though, because he did a great job.

Kayla played a very soul-felt "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Playing in the recital is not her favorite thing, but she truly knows how to play from her heart and she amazes me to no end.

Emma played, "O Christmas Tree." She was very pleased to show me her own rendition for how the song should end and she played it beautifully.

Kendra played a very lively personal favorite of mine, "Pat a Pan." It is such a fun song especially for anyone who plays a fife or drum. She did a wonderful job.

Emilee played, "Silent Night," which was rather difficult with a position change right in the middle of the song. If I hadn't known the song, I never would have noticed the change because she played it so smoothly.

Christopher played, "The First Noel." If I am remembering correctly, I think he was the first person to have his song memorized. He did a really good job.

Julia played, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," well, almost twelve. She played the first six days, and then jumped to the twelfth day, getting faster and faster, louder and louder. She did so well, and I cannot figure out how she kept track of what day she was on.

Joey played, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." He has also only been playing for about three months and this song had a lot of new things in it that he had not officially learned yet. He worked hard and did a great job.

Sarah played, "We Three Kings." She practiced so much that there were times that we had to tell her to please stop. She wanted to make sure that she played her song well, and she did.

Justin played, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." He does not like having to talk in front of people, but he got up there, introduced himself and played his song very well. (Yes, I'm one of those mean teachers that makes her students introduce themselves and their songs. Haha....)

Kelly and Kendra did a piano duet to "Away in a Manger." Kelly had a very difficult part and she had to work really hard on it, but she got it and the girls did very well.

Christopher and I played, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." We had fun as we worked on getting it together. :-)

Julia and Drew did a beautiful duet for "Good King Wenceslas." Drew played the melody part, and Julia's part was a rendition of Pachelbel's Cannon in D. They played the best they ever had together at the recital.

Emilee and I played, "Go Tell it on the Mountain." I think we finally got that eight-note rythmn put together. -That was not an easy feat. This was another one that we had a lot of fun on and many good laughs in the process.

Parker and I played, "Over the River and Through the Woods." He remembered to count and we did it! He worked really hard on this song, and it showed.

Rachel and I sang, "Breath of Heaven," while Anna (not pictured - sorry) played the piano. I wasn't sure how it would go because the song is not easy to play, but Anna did a fabulous job. As for the singing, I have no idea.... I think it went well....ask somebody who was there how it sounded. :-)

Sisters, Emma and Julia played and sang, "Jingle Bells." Emma had it memorized and owned it! Julia sang beautifully even when she had to jump ahead a measure. They sounded great and I know there was a lot of teamwork behind that song.

Rahcel and Kendra did, "Joy to the World." The song was a rendition mixed with the "Hallelujah Chorus." Poor Kendra was beside herself when she got a cold earlier in the week, but she pulled through and sang her little heart out. Rachel played just the right speed, which is difficult, and they sounded wonderful.

Kayla and Anna played, "Bring the Tourch, Jeanette Isabella." They are best friends and did so well together. I originally got the music off of a free sheet music website, and you never know how those are going to turn out being that they were free, but the girls made it sound so beautiful. Click here to access the website. They have lots of great music for multiple instruments. (Though some of the songs you have to pay for.)

A few of my siblings and I played, "I Saw Three Ships." We love playing songs with an Irish flair and this one was perfect. Rachel just stared playing violin not too long ago. This was her first performance.

I am so thankful to God for all of the students He has given me. I have learned so much from each and every one of them.

God Bless!