Sympathy Letters from Kids

I finally got around to going through a bag of sympathy notes that were written to me by students at one of the schools I play piano for. I go to this school, a middle school, about once a week to attend chorus rehearsals and play for performances. I feel bad that it took me so long to get around to reading all the notes. There were over 100 of them.

Here are a few excerpts I wanted to preserve for posterity because I found them funny, touching, or unique or just because they made me smile. Enjoy. The authors are all sixth, seventh, or eighth graders. :-)

"I drew a rainbow because when my aunt passed away my mom said think of rainbows because it shows the bright side and it helps me. So maybe it will help you. My mom also tells me to think about the rainbow because my brother is in the air force and when he leaves it makes me sad."

"I will be praying for you. Thank you for being SO NICE to us even though we are crazy and loud. You are VERY good at the piano. I love you so much!"

"Thank you for being our accompanist, even though we're a band of bumbling baboons 90% of the time."

"Thank you for still coming to play with us tomorrow. I couldn't do it. I'm not that strong. My mom is still alive, but it feels like I don't know her. I haven't seen her in 3 years."

"It stinks to hear about what's happening, but for the short period of time I've known you, I think you can get through it. I know you can because I did. My brother died 1 year, 1 month, 6 days ago. You are much stronger than a 12-year-old so I know you can make it through."

"Hello. I am unsure what losing a parent feels like, but I have witnessed the death of some things. I once had a funeral for a turtle I found on the side of the road, and I remember how sad my family was when my grandfather died, even though I was not. I was five or six and I suppose death didn't really make sense to me. Or rather, I didn't really understand it enough to feel it. I'm fourteen and honestly don't know all that much, but I think that life is an incredible thing. Therefore, even though a life has been lost and I am certain that it hurts, there's still more life to marvel at. I hope that wasn't insensitive; I genuinely was not trying to be."

"I am glad you are the piano player at our school because you make us so much better than we already are."

"I love walking into choir and seeing you in the room."

"Every time I hear you play a smile will not come off my face. I also think you are very beautiful. I LOVE YOUR HAIR."

"To be honest I don't really know what to say. What I do know is that there are some days when all you want to do is be left alone. And then there are other days when all you want is a hug. I don't know what kind of day this is for you, but I just want you to know that I care, and that our entire women's choir cares! And I don't know if you're a religious person or not, but here's a Bible verse that always helps me when I'm going through a rough time: 1 Corinthians 10:13. Just always know that God will forever be by your side."

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Church Pianist

A Facebook friend shared this. She did not make it and we have no idea who did! She found it on the "Christian Memes" Facebook page, which has 384,000 followers. For readers who may not know, that is my husband, bottom right. I love that he is the "what I really do" picture because yes, that is what he really does. :-)  

Speaking of being a church pianist, here he is doing that today for the first time on the grand piano our church just acquired!

First Sunday on the new piano!
Posted by Katie Wogisch Haddad on Sunday, May 17, 2015

Brahms

Here is a video of Trevor's performance with the UNL Symphony last month. Much better in every way than mine! There are some nice close-ups on hands and face, too. There is very little that approaches the joy of seeing your child do something not only that he loves but that is a blessing and service to others. Thank you, Glen Korff School of Music for providing my son such a good home away from home the last four years. It has been a wonderful journey for him and those who love him!

Thoroughly Modern Millie

A few weeks ago I started attending rehearsals for the local high school production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. I am serving as rehearsal accompanist right now and will play in the pit orchestra during the show's run in early April. Today we had our first rehearsal at the Performing Arts Center in downtown Broken Arrow, Oklahoma (no garden variety auditorium for this highly rated music program). It's an impressive facility! 

The Performing Arts Center was built by and for the school district but also serves as the venue for non-school productions and guest performers. Later this week my daughter Caitlin and I will be attending a concert and master class there featuring Kristin Chenoweth (original Broadway cast of Wicked), a Broken Arrow native.

Chenoweth's appearance will benefit local arts and education. I don't think it's her first time to make a significant contribution to the folks back home.

But back to rehearsal. I'm very glad I have been given the opportunity to participate in this production. So far I am quite impressed with the talent of the cast and the effort going into bringing this Millie to the stage. Here's my home away from home for the next few weeks.

I have to admit it leaves a little to be desired. (My fellow musicians will understand what in the picture below. For those who don't, the music rack was not big enough to support my book, which kept falling off or flopping over. Luckily, when the music director arrived, he found a free-standing music stand for me, which we put behind the piano for my book. A bit of a reach to turn pages, but a vast improvement over the original setup.)

Meanwhile, just a few steps away, there was this. Sigh. I guess that's show business!

No Wonder They Gave Him a Music Scholarship

I love how these pieces demonstrate the full range of Trevor's musicianship. From the subtlety and lyricism of the first set of pieces to the technical and tonal demands of Beethoven to the sheer physicality and rhythmic brilliance of Ginastera, these performances showcase a young musician who is going places. I'm so glad I get to follow along as his number one adoring fan. Keep up the wonderful work, Trevor. You have come so far the last few years; how exciting to think of all the places you have yet to go!


 
Trevor Magness, Junior Recital, Part 1 from Cheryl on Vimeo.



Trevor Magness, Junior Recital, Part 2 from Cheryl on Vimeo.



Trevor Magness, Junior Recital, Part 3 from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Goodbye to a Friend

Yesterday I had coffee with a friend. Because due to our move I'm not sure when we will see each other again, I asked the lady at the next table to take a picture of us before we said goodbye.

I first came to know Melinda about 13 years ago, when I joined the staff of Young Naperville Singers as a choral accompanist. At the time she was already accompanying several of the choirs of the organization, including the oldest, most advanced group. I don't think I had even actually met Melinda when I experienced her kindness for the first time. Arriving at my first rehearsal, I found a gift (I think it was homemade bread) and card waiting for me on the piano, warmly welcoming me to the group and wishing me a great first year. This was only the first of many such thoughtful acts from this lovely lady over the years.

Life being what it is, I have taken several breaks from YNS (one to have that nine-year-old who so often makes his way into my posts), but for most of that time Melinda was a constant presence in YNS, impacting it as only she could have done, both with her musicianship and with her humanity. When she left a few years ago to take a full-time position as staff accompanist at an area high school, her absence was acutely felt. Meanwhile that high school got three people for the price of one. Melinda is one of those individuals who, because she cares so much, does not know how to give anything less than her all. And what is her all? Oh my. It is a level of musicianship that I can only dream about--technical excellence that makes everything she plays seem bewilderingly effortless; an ear that hears things very few people do and a level of artistry that knows how to carry a musical idea from conception to reality; and an incredible range of ability that runs the gamut from classical masterworks to jazz improvisation and everything in between. As if all of that weren't enough, she is above all a collaborative musician, one who is happiest creating ensemble by working with others. I was honored to sit on the piano bench next to her several times on choral pieces requiring two pianists. Oh dear, was I nervous. I mean, this lady has worked in New York City and Graz, Austria. But I shouldn't have been. If you are a musician you have probably met other musicians whose primary goal is to draw attention to their superiority. Melinda could do that if she wanted to. But instead her primary goal has always seemed the exact opposite: to build up others in their musical confidence and sense of worth. Melinda once told me she admired my touch on the piano. I wonder if she realizes that I got about ten years worth of musical and personal mileage out of that one comment?

Melinda brought me a gift again yesterday, one that reflected the thought and care she put into it. I have never been very good with gifts but am okay with words so this post is for her. Thank you, Melinda, for your friendship, your kindness, your encouragement and your heart. I will miss you greatly!

More from Amalfi

A few more pictures . . .

. . . and a review.

A European Debut

I am mother to an international pianist! A little while ago Trevor made his European debut, playing a recital of Prokofiev and Haydn at the Abbazia di Mercogliano in Avellino, Italy. The picture above is of Trevor and his teacher following the recital. How I wish we could have been there!

First of July Update

For the interested, and anyone else who needs one more reason to put off mopping the kitchen floor.

It's a little quieter around here today. As I write this, Trevor should be finishing up his first day at the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival in Maiori, Italy. He left two days ago and arrived yesterday after about 24 hours of traveling. His route took him from Chicago to Montreal to London to Milan to Napoli via air and then to Maiori via shuttle. The reason for the less-than-direct path was our need to pay for his airfare with accumulated credit card points. (Ironic, isn't it, that it takes more planes, more time, more labor and more fuel to get there more cheaply.) Trevor was awarded a grant for part of his cost and is paying for the rest out of his own money. He auditioned and was accepted into the Young Artists' track, which means that in addition to studying with some amazing teachers he will also be performing a solo recital. Needless to say, we are extremely proud of him, not only for the hard work that earned him that honor but also for his success in traveling internationally by himself for the first time ever. He has spent the last several months learning some basic Italian! It seems to have helped. Not only did he find all his gates on time, but he found a place to trade his dollars for euros in London, and he caught a cab from the airport to his hotel in Napoli, spending the night before catching a cab back to the airport for the shuttle to Maiori the next morning. The thought of doing all that alone is scary to me, so all I can say to my son is "Bravo." Here's a picture of Trevor on his first day in Maiori. He is on the right; his teacher is in the middle.

There have been a few mix-ups. In Montreal his carry-on, which was valeted due to insufficient space in the overhead compartment of the small plane, was sent to baggage claim by accident instead of being returned to him. This meant he had to leave the secure area and go through Customs to retrieve his bag and then clear security again to catch his trans-Atlantic flight. In addition, we discovered that even though we visited our local T-Mobile store ahead of time to get instructions on calling internationally between our cell phones, his phone is not working in Italy, resulting in some tense times for the parentals as we awaited his check-in calls (luckily in London he was able to find an internet kiosk so as to send us an email). Finally, his computer, which he decided to pack in his luggage rather than carrying with him, was damaged by baggage handlers who did not take care to return it to its cushioned location after inspecting his bag. He seems to have not been too fazed by any of this (or if he is, he's putting on a good front for his worrywart mom).

Here is the website for the piano portion of the festival. If you click on "People" and then "Young Artists" you will see Trevor's bio along with those of all the other remarkable young pianists chosen for the performance track. Prepare to be blown away. There are several child prodigies in the mix.

Moving right along, Caitlin is one week into Drivers' Ed (Driver's Ed?) and is doing great. We practiced yesterday and I didn't scream or grab the steering wheel once. At least I don't think I did. Maybe I am just blocking it all out.

Evan recently took another swimming class. You can read his swimming journey here. The first attempt, a few years ago, did not go well. Last fall we tried again with private lessons and he made great progress. Now he is building on that progress! Here he is trying out the big slide for the first time:


As usual, we are continuing "school" into the summer months. Considering our hit-and-miss, um, relaxed homeschooling style, we have never been able to justify taking the summer totally off. Right now Caitlin and I are reading Hamlet, and Evan and I are trying to wrap up the Life of Fred elementary series. Piano lessons, continue, of course, as do Bible and catechism study.

And, oh, did I mention we're moving? Dad is in Oklahoma right now, laying the groundwork for things to come. It looks like God cooled things off a little there this week. I'm sure that was done with my husband in mind. ;-) It's been a long time since we experienced summer in the South!

Music Mnemonics

I saw this on Facebook today:

It was linked on one of the music pages I follow, with the question, "What acronyms did you use to remember the lines and spaces?" Here are the ones my first piano teacher taught me and that I still use with my students:

Treble clef lines - Every Good Boy Does Fine
Treble clef spaces  - FACE
Bass clef lines - Great Big Dogs Fight Animals
Bass clef spaces - All Cars Eat Gas

Over the years I have come across many others. One popular alternative for the treble clef lines is "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge." I have also heard "Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always" for the bass clef lines. I think if you are going to use one of those you had better not use the other one--they are too similar and easily confused. For the bass clef spaces I have also heard "All Cows Eat Grass." If you took music lessons growing up, what mnemonics did you use? Feel free to leave your favorite in the comments.

Second Rachmaninoff Video

This is a full video of last week's concert with all the pieces performed by the UNL Symphony and the student soloists for the night. Trevor starts at about the 50-minute mark. There are many more angles and close-ups here than in the video I took. You can even see a few of Trevor's biggest fans in some of the audience shots! We were sitting about nine or ten rows back, slightly to Trevor's right looking out from the stage. Look for the tall guy with glasses. I"m next to him, and Evan is next to me. Sorry, Caitlin, you didn't make this edit. :-)

 

Words Fail

Just listen. And watch.

 
Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto, First Movement from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Blogging Slowdown

You may have noticed a downturn in posts the past week. It will probably continue a while longer, for several reasons. Number one, I am in my busiest piano season, playing for various school competitions (and the requisite rehearsals) in addition to normal practices for the ensembles I accompany. Number two, it is Lent, which means more time spent attending midweek services and extra rehearsals for Easter. Number three, my mom continues in rehab, so I am still making multiple trips each week to the facility that is caring for her (we recently moved her and are much happier with her new accommodations). And number four, I have been sick. I don't know if I had one cold, started to get better and then relapsed, or if I got a new and different cold on the heels of the first one. Either way, I have been dragging through all of the above for a couple of weeks now and still don't feel anywhere near my normal level of energy. I am supposed to be going to therapy for my foot but haven't had time. Luckily my foot seems to be doing okay. I have been almost exclusively wearing athletic shoes with custom orthotics ever since I got out of the boot.

Last night I went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 6:30 this morning. Thank you for enabling that, family! I needed the sleep--even being sick I have had my share of insomniac nights. I would like to blame something that happened earlier this week on fatigue and illness rather than on general stupidity. I filled in as accompanist at Caitlin's community youth choir rehearsal and ended up having to play the rehearsal with my bifocals rather than my prescription reading glasses because, I assumed, I had left the reading glasses at home. (My readers are preferred for playing piano because the bifocals require that I throw my head back to get the necessary magnification, a posture that causes neck and back pain in short order.) Anyway, I discovered later that no, I didn't leave the readers at home but rather switched them out with my bifocals in order to drive to rehearsal and left them sitting in my lap, whence, gravity being what it is, they fell to the ground when I stood up and got out of the car. There they lay for about three hours until I sorted out the mystery and drove back to retrieve them. By that time, they had been irredeemably stepped on or driven over, take your pick. Bummer. I now have a new $7.99 pair of readers from Target. The insurance plan does allow for me to get new glasses this year but I would like those to be a new pair of bifocals.

Ah, well. It all pales when I think about next week. In eight days we will be driving to Nebraska to see Trevor play with the UNL Symphony Orchestra! Here's a preview showing the orchestra in rehearsal, first with the graduate concerto winner and then with Trevor (the undergraduate winner). I can't wait!

International Center Recital

French Suite No. 2 in C-minor by J.S. Bach from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Rhapsody in G-Minor, Op. 79, No. 2 - J. Brahms from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Gargoyles, Op. 29, by Lowell Liebermann from Cheryl on Vimeo.

I ran out of memory before the final movement of Gargoyles. Here is another performance that includes that final movement at about the 4:20 mark.

 
"Gargoyles" - Op. 29 by Lowell Liebermann from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Piano Recital

"Round Dance" Op. 101, No. 60 - F Beyer from Cheryl on Vimeo.
Sonata in D, L. 463 - D. Scarlatti from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Nocturne in E-Flat, Op. 9, No. 2 - F. Chopin from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Norman Dello Joio Suite for Piano from Cheryl on Vimeo.

An October Surprise

I have been out of town the last few days, visiting my son in Nebraska. Yesterday he competed in the MTNA Young Artist Competition, playing a 30-minute program that included works by Bach, Brahms, and 20th-century composer Lowell Liebermann. The video below is of Trevor's performance of the Liebermann piece, entitled "Gargoyles." I love this work because although it is modern in style and harmonic vocabulary, it is highly melodic and therefore quite accessible, not to mention haunting and exciting. It is a four-movement work; included here are the first, third, and fourth movements.


"Gargoyles" - Op. 29 by Lowell Liebermann from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Trevor received Honorable Mention for this performance; the previous night, in Lincoln, he won the University of Nebraska's undergraduate concerto competition! In February he will be performing the first movement of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto with the University of Nebraska Symphony Orchestra.    If you had asked Trevor a few days ago which of the two competitions he thought he had the best chance of winning, he would have said MTNA, not the concerto competition. Such is live music: one never knows when all the elements are going to come together in just the right way to create a truly memorable performance. Sometimes it happens when you least expect it (and conversely doesn't happen when you thought it would).

It has been a long three days of driving--about nine hours on the road both Wednesday and today and five hours yesterday as Trevor and I drove from Lincoln to Kearney and back again. I am tired but so thankful I was able to go and see my son perform and to spend some time with him. It was my first time to see him since he left for the fall term over two months ago. I didn't go along on that trip so had not even seen his room yet this year. Can you believe he was able to get moved in without his mother directing him every step of the way?

Time to start counting the days until Thanksgiving.

Sounds from a Sunday Afternoon

I was inspired this afternoon to record this two-minute video. My husband and two sons were watching the Yankees-Mets game when Phillip decided to play the piano on a commercial break. He launched into "Amazing Grace" and this is what I managed to record. I did so surreptitiously, which is why all you see is the view out our living room window. Meanwhile, you can hear dogs playing with squeaky toys and family chatter in the background.

What a blessed life I lead. Amazing grace, indeed! By the way, Phillip told me that the music you hear here goes with the words to the fourth and fifth stanzas as found in Lutheran Service Book, #744:

"Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail
And mortal life shall cease,
Amazing grace shall then prevail
In heaven's joy and peace.

When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we'd first begun."

The Girl Can Play

Reflets dans l'eau - Debussy

Trevor Magness, Senior Piano Recital
June 4, 2011
Bethany Lutheran Church, Naperville, Illinois

Class of 2011

The set-up

The decorations

Sister/Aunt/Photographer/Decorator (Thanks, Deb!)



The spread



The cake

Story

Dad

Mom & Dad

Presenting the diploma

You did it, Trevor.

Reading the diploma

I think we should cut it this way.

Teamwork.

Pretty girls.

Let's party!

Friends

Family

There are those pretty girls again.

Let me show you how it's done, Son.

I think he knows how it's done.

Tired but happy.

Our music man. Congratulations, Trevor. We love you so much.