daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
Tonight was the Spring Concert, and Koa performed in two pieces. He didn’t play marimba this time, but was on the electric piano for one song and then cymbals for the other. It was a nice concert, but I prefer the ones where he plays marimba or timpani.
The school year is almost over, and it has been a successful one for Koa. He still loves band, and he’s doing great! Very proud. 😄
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today is bittersweet because Bay’s last piano recital was this afternoon. He’s been taking lessons since he was about 9 years old, which means he’s performed in about 16 recitals (which seems crazy to me!). But since Bay will be going to college in August, this was his final recital.
Surprisingly, he had chosen to work on Franz Liszt’s Campanella for the recital, which is a notoriously difficult piece to play. We were worried because he’s pretty busy with school, and also he’s not the most eager to practice, but happily, his performance at the recital was great. He only slightly stumbled a couple of times, and they weren’t any pauses. During the intermission, his instructor said, “Bay almost gave me a heart attack, but he did it!” I had the same feeling. 😄
After the performance, his instructor said a few nice words about Bay, and Bay told the audience about his future plans of studying Architecture. It was a really special moment. 😂 We’re sad that he only has a couple more months of formal lessons, but I am hoping he continues piano on his own in the future!
Anyways, here’s a couple of photos and a video from when Bay first started his piano career:
I hope you had a good day!
またね～
こんばんは。How’s it going?
What a busy, but great day, we had! Koa had a percussion competition in the morning down at Texas State University in San Marcos, then in the afternoon, he performed in the Grand Finale Concert of the Austin Youth Orchestra. After that, we headed back down to San Marcos for a percussion master class, and then we found out the results of the competition. And the results were great – Koa received 4th place (out of 29) for his marimba performance!
Not only was the competition great, but the Austin Youth Orchestra performances were fantastic as well. Koa played timpani in a Stravinsky tune (which was really fun to watch), and snare drum in a Tchaikovsky tune. It was awesome. If you have a few moments, give them a watch/listen:
The grand finale concert marks the end of the spring session, and I am pretty sure Koa will want to join AYO again next year. I am happy and amazed that his level is so high at just his freshman year. Looking forward to his future!
またね～
こんばんは。This evening, Koa performed three pieces at his high school’s percussion concert: a solo, a duet, and ensemble. He sounded great!
Here are the recordings I made of the solo and duet. Please watch and listen!
こんばんは。How’s it going?
I don’t know if it’s because he is going to college soon and wants to practice cooking, or if he’s just sick of my cooking, but Bay made dinner for us tonight. The chicken parmesan sandwiches were yummy! I approve! And because he did the cooking, I did the dishes, which he has pretty much taken over as one of his chores.
Here’s the video that he followed for the dinner:
I’m going to miss Bay when he leaves for college, so I’ll cherish these days when he’s still at home. 😀
Enjoy the photos!
またね～
