Friday was our 2nd Evening Recital of the year. Once again, it was well-attended due to Marit’s poster campaign and the promise of coffee and tea after an evening of music.
Marit opened the evening with a charge to the audience to listen to the music in a special way: to hear it as a space in time that allows us to ponder the Creator through the creativity of composers and performers.
My role in the evening was stage-handing. Between performances, I raised and lowered the piano lid, removed chairs, and moved a music stand around. Yet during each piece, my ears were given a real treat! The evening was something special. On Tuesday, many of the same students had performed after school in an informal recital full of nerves and mistakes. On this evening, though, nerves were turned into excitement and musicality. Mistakes were turned into “That’s the best I’ve ever played this piece!” As a teacher, it was rewarding to hear the students’ success. As a musician, it was thrilling to be moved with the emotions of the different pieces. As a Christian, I was loving the opportunity to hear God being glorified in the music, in the beautiful notes played by these excited students.
The first performer was my cello student, new this year to BFA. Despite being dismayed to find that she was the first one up, she pulled together a solid performance.
You’ll have to imagine the rest – I didn’t have that much battery left on my camera!
