Orchestra Olympics

Today I was the class chaperon for Cohen's school trip to the CPO. I've been very excited about this - I actually volunteered last year, and then was unable to get the day off work. Luckily, Ian was able to take my place last year, but Cohen was mad all the same - he's proud of the fact that I'm a musician, proud that I know all of the instruments and many of the members of the CPO etc etc. Anyway, last year, I PROMISED him I would volunteer this year...but go figure, when he came home with the news that they were going to the CPO this year, I was booked to teach a clinic... in Caroline!
I tried desperately to find a sub, and couldn't. A week prior to the event, I had to make a decision. I sat down with Cohen and tried to gauge how important this was to him. Answer? VERY important. So I had to back out of my clinic, which is never good.

Regardless, I was excited for today. Despite feeling somewhat under the weather (after a few cups of tea, I was feeling somewhat human), Cohen and I were all smiles as we drove to school today. I elected to stay and visit his class for the first hour before the field trip started, and I'm SO glad that I did. Cohen's teacher let me work with the class a bit, talking about all of the instruments, concert etiquette, etc. I also was able go through this book with them - what a GREAT book! I have ordered it for our family already.

Today was important for many reasons - besides loving spending time with Cohen in the classroom setting, it was musically important as well. We spend a lot of time here learning about music - from 7pm - 8pm every night, it's music practice time. With the kids involved in so many aspects of music, we typically rotate activities and kids (when Ian is home... when he's not, it typically takes me more than an hour). I'll work with Lili on her Kodaly songs/lessons, while Ian helps Cohen with his piano homework. Then, I'll work with Cohen on his Kodaly songs/lessons (which are QUITE intense at level 3) while Ian helps Lili with her piano pieces. Finally, Cohen and Ian act as an audience while Lili practices her violin (a big part of her lessons is playing in front of an audience, so we applaud after every piece, and she bows). I'll end the violin session with a few games that both kids can participate in (thanks Theresa). Then we all take a turn on the violin (Ian, I'm proud to say, is the resident virtuoso-in-the-making. No joke, he seems to have an incredible natural instinct for the violin).

I then sing/sign a few solfege melodies and have the kids sing/sign back to me (I'm ashamed to say that they are all ready better than at least half of my first year University musicianship class). We finish up with more fun - listening to music with our eyes closed, and then talking about how the music makes us feel or what stories come to mind.

(I have to mention here - amazingly, last night we listened to Barber's famous "Adagio for Strings". Cohen, when asked what it made him think of, he said "soldiers fighting and dying"- guess the writers of the movie Platoon had it right on!)

Anyway - it's a lot of hard work and sometimes it's like pulling teeth - but once we all get into it, it's typically an amazing hour in our house. The TV is off, the computer is off, and it's pure, 100% family time. And through music! I love it! On nights that the kids seem especially reluctant or tired, we'll spend more time on the games and less time working on notes. Thanks to the incredible teachers that my kids are blessed with, our practice time is usually fun and varied - we have a large felt stave and felt notes, to help the kids learn their letter names. We use the tuning fork EVERY day to learn about relative pitch. We sing letter names, rhythm names, solfa, and words to songs that bring me back to my childhood. We clap, tap, and try to confuse eachother with complicated ostinati. We write in the form of each piece, and mark in breath marks and phrasing.

I'm so amazed at how much they know. And yes, a little jealous! But ultimately, so proud and happy for them. I hope they will carry music with them for life, no matter where their dreams take them.

ANYWAY. With all of the above, I was obviously excited to accompany Cohen to the orchestra. The kids were very excited as well. The concert started with the Olympic Fanfare by John Williams. Cohen immediately turned to me and said "this sounds a LOT like Indiana Jones music, MOM!" Nice ears, yeah? Next was a brilliant 13 year old pianist performing Chopin with the orchestra. Very impressive, and, as it turned out, the favourite of most of the kids. The finale was an actual composition, new to me, entitled the "Orchestra Olympics" (or something like that), which was narrated. I thought it was ok, not great. I didn't find that the composer utilized the instruments very well. The potential for humour in a piece like this is tremendous... but I felt that the piece worked too hard to be educational, with just a little bit of humour mixed it. The kids were restless and somewhat bored within a few minutes. Honestly, I was as well.

Despite the somewhat dull finish to the concert, I still enjoyed myself. Cohen and I (discreetly) whispered back and forth with eachother about the different instruments and sounds. I was able to see how he interacts with his classmates, which was a treat.

A successful day, for sure. I was planning on taking the kids to Saturday Morning at the Symphony this weekend, but I think that Cohen in particular may be orchestra'd out for now!