15
Nov

This one’s for the grandparents (and the cello teacher)

by HML

Thing One in action

The middle school’s annual autumn concert is the first opportunity of the school year for all the orchestra parents to enjoy the fruits of nagging their children to practice.  It’s an especially exciting time for the parents of cellists and bassists, as we’ve spent the past few months listening to just the bass line of each performance piece — no melody — and have wondered how the complete piece will sound.

Thing One is finishing up his middle school career* in the senior orchestra, and they sounded great.  Even Thing Two sat through the entire concert, which he has never done before, and he was thrilled to see his big brother on stage.  But don’t take our word for it; here are the three pieces they performed (all in Quick Time format):

* Aside:  Can Thing One really be almost a high school student?  Wasn’t he in kindergarten, like, yesterday?

Related posts:

Is it mid-July already?
We love you Thing One, oh yes we do
Ouch

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 1:37 am and is filed under family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “This one’s for the grandparents (and the cello teacher)”

  1. Craig
    November 17th, 2008 11:58
    1

    Glad to see Thing One was able to so nonchalantly address the itch. Itch and all, though, he made that orchestra sound pretty darn good!

  2. Cailean
    November 18th, 2008 00:31
    2

    Very impressive! Seriously better than my high school orchestra! And considering our kids are likely (hopefully) to go there, we are happy! I’m not surprised your youngest one sat through it: he did a great job at Stake Conference! Congrats to your oldest – he did a great job! You’re so right – I never thought about parents of non-melody players and how they would wonder about the full orchestra performance! :)

  3. HML
    November 19th, 2008 09:58
    3

    When Thing One was in 6th grade/junior orchestra, they played an Irish dance from the movie Titanic. For nearly three months he practiced playing one note. Oh, he had to start and stop it on time, but it was just one note. We went to the concert with some concern, only to hear this fantastic melody from the violins — supported by a super (and precise!) drone from the cellos and basses. :)

    This middle school has one of the best music programs in the region; from beginning strings on up, but especially the senior orchestra, they have a long tradition of winning first prize (and sweeping the rest of the awards) at all the regional competitions. If your elementary school participates in the 4th/5th grade instrumental music program, I recommend it! That’s how Thing One started, supplemented with the school district’s summer music camp and private lessons.