A Literal Gag Gift

As you may recall, Matthew gave Daniel some strawberry flavored saxophone reeds for Christmas. Being the good brother that he is, Daniel actually gave them a try. This is how he feels about them:

 

The End of a Journey

Last night was Daniel’s last band concert of his high school tenure. The jazz band will play at graduation, but the wind symphony’s final performance was last night at Libby Gardner Hall. All the seniors were given boutonnieres, what Daniel referred to as “oldness flowers,” in honor of their final concert. As part of this concert, there were a handful of kids who prepared and auditioned to perform concertos with full band accompaniment. Daniel selected a saxophone concerto back in the fall and has been steadily working on it all year. Several months ago, it was confirmed that he would get to play at the concert, but there was some difficulty getting the music for the rest of the band. In the past six weeks he toyed with two other concertos, but he and the band director finally decided that he should play his original choice with the piano reduction. He was very pleased to be able to perform his first choice in music even though he would not have the full band accompaniment. He was also selected to play the clarinet solo at the beginning of “Rhapsody in Blue,” a piano concerto performed by one of the other clarinet players who is (obviously) also a pianist. The concert opened with Daniel’s clarinet ringing throughout the hall. To play the final concert, including several big solos, in a hall specifically designed for music was a magnificent finish to his high school music career and his notes were the first ones we heard.

Daniel played the first movement of David Maslanka’s “Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble.” When he selected the piece, he told me that it was by a modern composer, but it wasn’t atonal (which he knows I dislike immensely) and he thought I’d like it. I’ve been hearing it in bits and pieces for more than six months, but last night was the first time I’ve heard it all put together and he was right. I did like it. A lot. Three years ago, Daniel’s playing had an abundance of technical skill but was lacking in emotion and musicality. I can honestly say that he is no longer just a technical player. His piece brought me to tears, and yes, I’m the mom and a total crybaby, but there were other watery eyes in the crowd as well. It was a beautiful piece, amazingly performed, and earned Daniel a standing ovation. I’ve quoted R.J. Palacio before, but I’ll do it again. “I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.” Last night was Daniel’s night. He had parents, grandparents, and other family in the audience, and we were not the first ones to stand up. He was so surrounded by well-wishers afterward that he had to fight his way through to talk to his family before we all left. And Kevin and I were stopped by numerous people who identified us as “the parents” and wanted to express their pleasure in his performance.

In the gospel we are counseled to beware of pride, but there is a good kind of pride, the one that is expressed by the Lord as being “well pleased” with the choices and actions of another.  I am well pleased with how far Daniel has come with his music, how hard he has worked at it, how he puts his heart into his music and touches other hearts in the process. I’m well pleased with the fact that one of the first things other people tell me is that he is just “so nice” to everyone. I’m well pleased with the many things he has accomplished in his schooling up to this point and how hard he has worked to learn as much as he could and do as well as he could in all his classes. And more than all those things, I’m extraordinarily well pleased that in spite of the fact that his music is his happy place, that he will practice until his face hurts and that he has improved by leaps and bounds due to his dedication and hard work, he is choosing to pack up his instruments, set them aside for two years, and serve the Lord. As a singer, there is never a similar sacrifice.

His mission papers are submitted. We’re just in the waiting phase. Last night was the culmination of six years of training and hard work. He is at the end of one part of his journey and looking ahead to an unknown stretch of road. And in another two years, he’ll pick it all back up, take some time getting back to where he is now, and continue making music because it makes him happy. It makes me happy too. I could not be more “well pleased.”

It Was the Cat’s Meow!

Instead of having a tradition concert, the high school jazz band did a “speakeasy” for their final concert. They played all the numbers the ensemble has learned this year and filled in the rest of a 2-hour set list with solos and smaller ensembles the kids rehearsed and prepared on their own. The kids dressed in 1920’s style and they set up tables and chairs in the commons area. The music was fabulous and the kids were obviously enjoying themselves. There were other high school kids who dressed up and danced the night away. They had drinks for sale (although not illegal and definitely not alcoholic 😉). There were not enough seats for all those who came. It was a come and go as you want event and we hadn’t planned to stay for the entire time, but they had enough music that they didn’t need to start repeating things until long after they thought they would and we were enjoying it so much that we stayed for the entire set. It was just a super fun, successful evening and we had a great time!

They are already making plans for next year’s speakeasy and I’m looking forward to it.

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned, Daniel has become quite the band geek. He eats, drinks and sleeps music right now. Of course, it is marching band season so that fills up lots of his free hours. He is also the kid that actually likes to practice. In fact, sometimes we have to tell him to stop practicing. His sax, though a student level instrument, is only three years old and and his hand-me-down clarinet has been fulfilling its purpose. But knowing the brand and age of his current clarinet and knowing that it isn’t going to take him as far musically as he wants to go (honestly, I am astounded at the great sound he can get out of the thing), Kev and I decided to get him a new clarinet. This decision has taken us months to come to, but we just want him to have an instrument that will allow him to grow as a musician. Although we know there are others who upgrade their kid’s instrument as a graduation gift, we decided we wanted him to be able to play and enjoy it all the way through high school.

Since his birthday is in December, he gets his birthday present from Kevin and me on his half birthday. So this morning we all hopped in the car and headed to Summerhays. Daniel did not know why we were going and when we arrived and he saw Kevin’s parents were there to meet us, he was mightily confused. We went in and selected a few instruments for him to play and he was happy as a clam. He has actually played some of the professional level clarinets before, so this was not a completely uncommon thing. In fact, he and his friend Cody like to just play all those new instruments and drool…although not literally because yuck. Anyway, Daniel played and had narrowed down the assortment to the one he liked best. The one he picked was not a surprise since it is the same one he’s had his eye on since at least March. Then Kev laid the decision before him. We were prepared to walk out the door with that beautiful clarinet on the condition that it would be his Christmas and birthday presents for the next three years. We were not going to force him into this arrangement, it was a choice. Not unexpectedly, he was totally ok with the deal. He didn’t even have to stop and think about it. He knows he will still get small gifts from us and gifts from his siblings and such, but having that new instrument was worth sacrificing any big Lego sets he has his eye on. Again, not a surprise to me. Kevin’s parents were in on the deal as well-they purchased Daniel a new mouthpiece since playing the new clarinet with the old mouthpiece would be like putting a rubber band engine in a Ferrari.

He’s thrilled. And wants to practice all the time. And makes me sound even less skilled when we play together. I better get my act together musically if we’re going to play something together and not sound like I’ve run over a cat with the car. ;-)

And as a side note, while all the official payment info was in the works, Matthew got to try out a trumpet. He has wanted to play trumpet for three years now and is standing firm in that desire. He was completely stoked (yes, I realize I just blatantly revealed my status as a child of the 80’s) when he was actually able to create some sound. And Nathan test drove the pianos, very nearly drooling over an Italian-made 7 ft. grand with a price tag of $78,000. Talk about a heart attack. But he said the touch of the thing was amazing and getting a huge range of dynamics was so easy and it sounded beautiful…yeah, keep dreaming kid. But yeah, I totally get it.

Musical Role Model

Daniel has been learning to play the saxophone. Although he’s only had a couple of weeks of practice, he’s actually doing really well. He hardly ever squeaks, he can play enough notes to play simple songs, and he is not afraid to play for other people. The other kids think it is super cool and there has been much talk of what instruments they all want to play.

I’m glad that my kids are finding their own ways to bring music into their lives. In addition to Daniel’s saxophone, Nathan is learning to play the piano, Matthew wants to play a trumpet and is completely intrigued by the organ at church and Malia loves to play whatever she can get her hands on.

Our house is becoming a house full of music…which is great considering there have been many times when it has just been full of noise. :-)