recital

April 30, 2023

Lauren’s First Piano Recital

Lauren has been taking piano for about 4 years, but has never performed in recital. Her first teacher did not do them, and she started with her current teacher during COVID, so this was a big deal, and she fought us hard to not do it. But we held strong and she did it and was happy that she did (small parenting win). The recital was in a cute little church in Mt. Airy. It was very informal and most of the students had only been playing for a few years, so everyone was comfortable.

Lauren played two songs and did a great job. I was hoping that this would spark her love for playing, but alas, we’re still struggling a bit there. Oh well, at least it was a good experience 😉

It also helped that her friend Noa also played. They were super cute sitting together waiting to play. I can remember how intense those nerves are until it’s your turn. And then it’s over and what a relief!

December 22, 2019

Holiday Recitals

December kept us busy this year, including three performances. The first was different for us this year. Sophie got asked to as part of a small group from the Philadelphia Girls Choir to sing with a Canadian group called the Tenors who were touring the US with a Christmas show. The performance was at the Keswick theater in Glenside, PA and it was really great. The girls sang four songs with the Tenors, and they were amazing. It was a sold out show, which was also pretty neat.

Unfortunately she was standing in the middle of the girls behind a tall girl, so we could only see the side of her fact for most of the performance.

The girls got a picture with the Tenors after the show. Sophie is front row, fourth from left.

The weekend after this concert Sophie had her regular Philadelphia Girls Choir holiday concert at the Temple Performing Arts Center.

After the concert, Sophie with her friend Sophia Nagel, who she knows from Green Towne Montessori

And the final performance of the holiday season was Lauren’s ballet show, which was Hansel and Gretel this year. The performed at the Suzanne Roberts Theater on Broad Street. There were two performances in one day – one at 2pm and one at 7pm. I watched the 2pm show and then was a backstage parent for the 7pm show, which was a little insane. It was a long day for the little kids, and by the second show exhaustion was definitely setting in.

The full cast for the final blow. Lauren was a butterfly and is sitting front row, third from the right.

July 2, 2019

Spring Recitals

On June 15 were both Sophie’s choir concert and Lauren’s ballet recital. And they were of course at the same time! We split up with Mom, Kathy, and me heading to Lauren’s show and Dad and the Daves heading to Sophie’s show. But it ended up working out well – for the moms at least, because Lauren was the 4th group to dance, so we snatched her up right afterward, jumped in an Uber, and headed up Broad Street to Temple Performing Arts Center, where Sophie’s group was just starting. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect!

Striking a post before leaving the their respective theaters
The whole fam

Here are a few shots of Lauren’s dance:

And a few of Sophie’s concert.

Sophie is 5th from the right in the front row
With her friend Sarah

June 10, 2018

Spring Performances

As the school year comes to an end, so do the girls activities (I think we’re all ready for a little break and a more relaxed schedule).

Last weekend Sophie had her end of year choir concert at Temple’s Performing Arts Center. The girls gave an amazing performance for a nearly full house.

Here’s the full group – Sophie is up on the balcony, middle. There are three groups, Sophie is in the youngest, called Etude. They all performed separately, and then all together, which is pretty amazing to hear.

The singing star afterward.

This weekend Lauren had her spring ballet recital at the Suzanne Roberts Theater on Broad Street. There were two sections of her performance where the kids were allowed to “free dance” and she was the start of the stage – gracefully twirling around and showing off all of her moves.

Some still shots of the performance.

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And a video of her dancing. While she likes to go to ballet class, it’s being up on stage that’s her favorite. Afterward she was already talking about next year’s recital.

Striking a post afterward.

Finally, Sophie had her end of year French play last week. Each second grade class puts on the same production, which lasted about 30 minutes. Sophie was a snail, or rather escargot.

Here’s the entire cast of animals, and Sophie with her fellow escargots talking to the main character, Spot. The entire play was in French, so I have no idea what the plot was. But I’m sure it was deep.

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A video of one of the songs all the kids sang.

Hamming it up with a couple of rabbits.

Afterward parents were invited back to the classroom where the kids sang a song and each demonstrated why they were smart. Sophie talked about how much she loved to read because she has such a good imagination and can picture everything she’s reading in her mind. She read the class a poem and then showed us a picture she drew of what she imagined.

Last week Lauren had her last day of preschool and next Friday will be Sophie’s last day of second grade. The days are long, but the year is short!

Here are the girls on Lauren’s last day of being a preschooler! It was also field day for Sophie, so she wore her Eagles shirt for the sports theme.

And here’s Soph a few days later on her last day with her Principal, Dr. Martino. Good-bye 2nd grade!

February 25, 2018

Sophie’s First Piano Recital

piano

When Sophie was 4 I started her on violin in a Suzuki program. It was very intense, but I was determined that she was going to do it. Despite my dreams of her becoming a beautiful violinist, after almost three years of tears and drama around practicing I finally let her quit. After taking a breather she said she wanted to start piano. This time I took a totally different approach and let her play what she wants when she wants (with guidance from her teacher of course). Although it’s been slow going, she loves it, which is a much better situation.

This weekend she had her first recital, which is a very casual event at Settlement Music School. Basically, the teacher decides when a student is ready, and one weekend a month kids who are “ready” perform. There were 5 other kids, playing piano and cello, and it lasted less than 30 minutes. She was super nervous, but played beautifully, and was proud of herself afterward, which was the best part.