Gettin' in the Mood for Christmas

Katherine and I went to the Old Brick Church in Williston where they are running a music series through the fall and winter. Tonight they had a concert harpist who has been playing with an orchestra in Philadelphia for many years.   And an "Grammy nominated" flutist who runs a chamber music group here in Vermont.

Katherine has expressed an interest in learning to play the harp.  When she learned that the harp had nine pedals on it to shift each string from natural to sharp to flat, she started to back down from her position...until the harp started to play.  Katherine had brought her Kindle along (we were plenty early in order to get good seats so she thought she might need something to read), but as soon as the music started she closed the Kindle and kept her eyes glued to the harp.

When we got home, I was enjoying all the lights on our house and thought I'd take a couple of pictures.  It's amazing how helpful these lights are in helping me get into the celebratory mood of Christmas.

This little tree is covered in LED lights, and is now covered in snow.  It looks like a candy tree...or maybe that's just my sweet tooth talkin'.

 
This is our front door.

Never Say "Never"

When I was younger, I used to say that I could never be a teacher (except maybe to my own kids), much less a music teacher. After all, genetics and upbringing (both my parents were music teachers/band directors) can only go so far, right?

Well, maybe not. It seems that, despite my best efforts (I was a business major), a part of that family business has been passed on to me. The only difference between my parents and me? They were trained for this gig...I am not. There are other significant differences between us...not the least of which is natural ability...but I'll do my best to to not shame the family. :)

Tonight I am arranging a hand chime version of O Little Town of Bethlehem for my general music students.  Trying to get a group of largely musically inexperienced first through fifth graders to play a song on the hand chimes is...well, it's about as difficult as it sounds.  Cross your fingers.

Call Me Old Fashioned

You can call me old fashioned if you'd like, but this blog post articulates many of my thoughts on hymnal use.  I think I would add another functional reason like 'hymnals are easier for short people see', but these fifteen reasons are a solid start.



15 Reasons Why We Should Still Be Using Hymnals

Katherine's Piano Recital

Up until the week before the recital, Katherine had been telling her teacher that she was NOT going to perform. She told me the same thing one day and I responded with a cool "yes you are".

By the time she was done, Katherine was prepared to play three pieces for the recital. Not bad for a girl who wasn't going to play. And she did a really good job, despite being really nervous.

Happy Mother's Day

After my kids took me out to dinner in a mom–gets–to–pay kind of way, we went to Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream on Church Street. Ben & Jerry's offers free ice cream to mom's on Mother's Day.

I told the kids that I wanted a picture with them, but they were pretty reluctant. After the ice cream, I finally got a picture. I'm not sure that I will be hanging it on my wall, but it was a sweet and to a pretty relaxing Mother's Day.

Fond Memories

On Friday, Patrick and ten of his classmates (all the junior high students...all eleven of them) went to New Hampshire to compete against eight other Christian schools from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut.  Represented by 213 students, these schools came together to compete in 49 different events in 5 categories: Bible, Art, Academics, Speech, and Music. 

Trinity Baptist School - Junior High

 Our students participated in twenty-four events and brought home many first, second, and third place ribbons. Trinity's new hand chime choir competed against three other handbell choirs who were well-established and experienced ringers.  We didn't place, but they did their best and performed admirably.  As their teacher has been out of school quite a bit in the past few weeks, I was asked to substitute teach the chimes as they prepared for competition.  On competition day, the teacher asked if I'd direct them since they were clearly used to me by now.  It was fun to be directing a choir again, although I do miss my old handbells.  At Trinity, everyone participates in hand chimes, regardless of musical knowledge or ability.  That can create some musical challenges, but also demonstrates a good message that participation is more important than winning.

Patrick competed in the Small Ensemble category with fellow seventh grader, Sophia.  They played Irish fiddle tune "Road to Listoonvarna", which is apparently the only song Sophia can play.  Patrick made it work by scheduling an extra guitar lesson specifically to work out the mechanics of this unknown piece.  And I spent some time at school helping them practice together; to stay focused, work on their stage presence, and fine-tune their timing.  I also helped them stretch this super short (only two lines of music) song into a performance piece by adding a second run through the piece where Patrick plays chords to Sophia's melody, and then adding the tag at the end.



The really cool part of their performance was what happened before the competition.  Their duo was the first event of the Small Ensemble category.  We arrived at the judging room about ten minutes before they were to start, but the room was empty.  We went inside and took our seats, and waited for the judges to arrive.  While I was setting up the camera and the seats were filling, one judge walked in and took a seat.  Patrick (probably in an attempt to quiet some nerves) started playing the guitar.  His friends coaxed him on to play this song or that song and he just kept playing at their request, telling stories and working the crowd the whole time.  One parent spoke out and asked if he knew any scales.  Patrick immediately ripped off two flawless scales and then went right back to playing songs for the crowd.  Eventually the judges were all seated and ready and gave them "the nod" to start their piece.  This is Patrick vamping for the crowd.

Proud smiles for Sophia and Patrick as they take home first place for The Road to Listoonvarna.

It's fun to watch Patrick get so jazzed about music (Did you see what I did there?  Jazzed about...oh never mind.)  We have definitely turned the corner from forced practices to having to take the guitar or mandolin away so that he can get his chores done.  He takes either the guitar or the mandolin to school almost every day, and is always looking for opportunities to use his music at school.

As Trinity has seen a consistent drop in enrollment, our resources for things like music instruction have taken a hit.  A once vibrant and active music program has been reduced to interested musicians taking private lessons, and a patchwork of volunteers coming in to teach music history and songs for concerts.  Changes are afoot for next year...exciting times.

Breakfast for Dinner

My kids love when they have "breakfast for lunch" for school hot lunch. Now I think I understand why.

Tonight was one of those everyone-eats-at-a-different-time nights so I served the kids their beloved pasta before taekwondo, and then made this nice fritatta for the adults.

WOW!  Yummy.  It's very basic, and the ingredient list is short, but the flavor was really fabulous.  I used a good cheddar cheese and quality ham, and it was the perfect end to a long day.  I will definitely be using this recipe again...and again.

Date Night

Long, long ago, before I had kids - before I was even married - I was already making notes about how I wanted to parent. Who knows where most of my ideas came from, but some of my ideas were mental notes while others I actually wrote down.

One such written note, which I have transcribed from one tattered piece of paper to another for something north of twenty-five years, was the idea that when a kid turns thirteen the parent/child relationship starts to change. As a parent, I wanted to be *more* involved with my teenager, not less (remember, I didn't have any kids at the time, so of course I knew it all).

Obviously I had no idea what that would look like in reality, but I wasn't sure I liked the notion of being relegated to a wallet or short order cook.  At a time when my kid is really starting to stretch his wings for flight, I wanted a front row seat...not back.  I wanted to be there with wise counsel and experienced insight (which I was certain would magically appear when I got "old") when my teenager was challenged by difficult relationships, frustrating teachers, and all the other annoyances that were sure to present themselves.

Well, it has happened.  My son is now a teenager and I think I found a seat in the front row.  We have instituted a regular mother/son date night.  My daughter isn't so keen on being left behind on these nights, but now she is looking forward - with even great anticipation - to becoming a teenager.

I don't expect any grand revelations from these little dinner duets, but I am hopeful that by establishing this practice now, while teenager-dom is still fresh, we will be ready if and when the real frustrations, dilemmas, irritations, and questions present themselves.  In the meantime, I'll settle for a full conversation with my son, one void of interruptions, where I can just listen to his stories and answer his questions about "back when *I* was young".

 
Date Night #1 - Hoagie's in Essex Junction.

Char Siu Bao

When my husband and I had an opportunity to travel to Indonesia last year, I came home with the taste of new flavors on my tongue and a desire to introduce my kids to some international flavors, or at least flavors that were foreign to them (I realize that if you go far enough back in America's history, most of our food is "international").
I thought I would introduce a different cultural meal once a month or so, but I didn't make it very far in my plan. Today, finally, I made a start.

Tonight I made Char Siu Bao. Char Siu Bao (Char Siu is "pork") is Cantonese in origin, but many cultures have a steamed or baked dumpling with a meat filling.  This same dumpling in Hawaiian would be Manapua.

My experience with bread making came in handy with the pouch portion of the dumpling, and (surprisingly) I only needed to buy the pork loin as the rest of the ingredients were already in my kitchen.

While this recipe does take some time to prepare, now that I know how it goes together I would break it up into steps that would fit into a week night schedule better.  (i.e., cook the pork loin one day, make the filling during the day that I want to serve it, and then prepare the "bao" in the afternoon for a final evening assembly.

I served my Char Sui Bao with fried rice, and set the table with chopsticks for a more authentic feel.  We had some leftovers because the dumplings are quite filling, but they definitely won't go to waste.