In Search of Myself: Piano Recital is done!

Ha ha -- I came up third for the following Google search: "who is 'the best pianist in the world' at the moment?" [this is because I had made the comment once that I wasn't trying to be the best pianist in the world.] It was good for a laugh this morning, though. (dude, don't I look TIRED in this picture?!!! click to enlarge.)

Ok, so the piano recital: it's amazing how much preparation and planning go into something that lasts all of 20 minutes! I spent Friday night and most of Saturday getting ready for it -- shopping, baking cookies, printing programs, getting cameras ready, etc, etc . . . It's such a huge weight off of my shoulders to be done. I am very proud of my girls, they all did extremely well. I think it's really good for them that they all get to play 5 songs each, instead of just one song. It helps them learn to stay calm and poised to perform for more than just 50 seconds (you'd be surprized how short beginner piano songs are.) Between each song they had to stop, find the next song (which were all marked with numbered tape flags), find their hand position, think about the tempo to start, then take a breath and begin. [I have drilled that process into their heads.] That's a lot more complicated than walking up to the piano, book opened already to the right page, and sit down and play. I honestly think someday they'll look back and be very glad they had these recitals (although I do think they enjoy them now as well.) [this pic is left to right: Margie, Alexis, and Evie]

I think the highlight of the recital for most people was Alexis playing "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from the Nutcracker. Alexis played the melody line, and her grandmother played the duet part with her. Once the two parts were together, it sounded awesome. She was determined from the moment she saw the song in her book that she was going to play THAT SONG. I didn't know if she could pull it off, because the timing was hard and there were a lot of accidentals (which, for you non-musical people, are sharps, flats, and naturals.) But she really did great.

They all made mistakes, but none were huge, and they handled them well. Really I wouldn't want them to get all the way through without a single mistake anyway. I think that more important than perfection is the ability to keep going when things don't go as you planned. I always stress to the girls that if you make a mistake but you handle it well -- keep going, focus on what you're doing right, don't make a big deal of it -- people are going to come away remembering not the things you did wrong, but the things you did right. And really, that's kind of how I feel about life.