Posted in Lessons I Have Learned

When I saw the Children's Musical Festival come through on our homeschool groups email loop I have to admit I thought it was going to be Raffi type music.  It was free, close to home and was only scheduled to last 45 minutes, which fits all my field trip criteria, so I signed up.  We arrived this morning, me with all 3 kids.  I am thinking my 2 year old will do fine because he likes to dance and sing and this is for kids after all.  We get seated on the 2nd row right in the center.....I open up the program and begin to panic! 

Breath (2005)
Joseph Harchanko

A Little Nonesense (1988)
"The Owl and The Pussy Cat"
Richard Pearson Thomas

Just Ok (Sans B)
Henri Bok

Twin Structures (1978)
Richard Tauchian

Trio per Uno
Nebojsa Zivkovic

Uh, where is Itsy Bitsy Spider and Wheels On The Bus?  I start planning my escape...My stroller parked up next to the stage...How will I get a screaming 2 yo out and up to the stage while dragging  complaining 5 and 12 year old?  It's going to be ugly....

The odd thing is only the first 2 rows are full.  It is all homeschoolers and I realize everyone is looking as nervous as me.  I keep thinking they are soon going to start seating the other 500 school children.  When we arrived the 1st performance was just ending and hundreds of kids were streaming out.  (I did notice that public school children stand in line very nicely!) 

So suddenly the announcer comes out and introduces the 1st piece.  A clarinet that was plugged into a computer and was accompained by prerecorded electronics.  The piece lasted 6 minutes and my kids set spellbound.  Even the 2 year old loved it and stopped pushing his seat up and down during the music.

I start to relax....

The 2nd piece was an Operatic performance of the wedding between the Owl and The Pussy Cat.  Very beautiful and very SILLY!  The singer told the kids before hand it was okay to laugh, and we all did!  Especially when the pianist interjected a few pig snorts!  LOL

Piece number 3 was a duet with a Saxaphone and Clarinet.  Very upbeat and very happy.  We all loved it...

Piece number 4 was AMAZING!  2 pianist, 1 piano.  They explained before they started that it was written after the death of the composers friend and starts out sad, becomes violent and then goes back to sad.  It did just that!  The kids were fasinated watching the dance of the 2 pianists playing the one piano.

The final piece was INCREDIBLE!!!  It was a drum Trio.  There was 1 large drum in the middle and 3 guys playing it.  They had other percussion instruments around them too.  Because it was such a small group they invited all of us to come on stage and surround them so we could really see them playing.  It was so cool!  My kids loved it!

I learned a lesson...My kids can handle more than Raffi!  LOL  Had I had seen the program before the concert I would not have signed up.  I am glad I didn't see it first.  My kids talked about the concert all the way home!  They couldn't even pick a favorite piece they liked them all so much! 

It was a really great lesson for all of us!

(Don't get me wrong....We actually listen to Classical Music at home frequently and we don't even own any Raffi!  LOL  I was just concerned about them sitting quietly in public and listening to such mature music!  Especially the 2 year old!)