jill.musick

The musical year finished with a bang. The Spring Concert was a wonderful mix of quality music performed by talented students.

At the beginning, the middle school drums performed a short piece, followed by an opening prayer by our principal, Laird Leavitt.

The middle schoolers perform on percussion instruments (Thanks to Rachel for taking these pictures!)

Next, the two piano ensembles performed, followed by the high school choir’s first set.

The choir sang beautifully!

Next, the guitar class performed 4 pieces.

They performed a variety - everything from Bach to Lion King music.

Then it was our turn. Rachel took videos of our performances, but the videos are too large to post here. I’ll try to burn them to a disc for people back home to see!

The first piece we played was a cheerful Mozart sonata. As someone told me later, it really gripped the audience with excitement from the first notes!

I went to use the microphone. I had a little trouble turning it on, but eventually I got it turned on and eventually the sound guys also got it turned on. I said something approximately like this:

“It’s been a fun first year of orchestra class. Four of the students traveled to Berlin this semester and performed at a school and a church. While there, they learned about Felix Mendelssohn, the composer of our next song. We passed by his former residence in Berlin where he probably sat in his garden on a Spring day like today and composed this song.”

Then we played “Spring Song,” a pretty, slow piece.

I again went for the microphone. This time it turned on just fine, but it took the sound guys a while to get it on; I was halfway through my short introduction by the time they got it turned on!

“The next two pieces we will play for you today have spiritual significance. The first comes from the FeG church hymnal. It is based on Psalm 103; ‘Lobe den Herrn’ means ‘Praise the Lord.'”

We played both “Lobe den Herrn” and “Genesis” before I attempted the microphone again. This time, it went on almost right away, but as soon as I started speaking, it made a horrendous screeching noise!!! After it was quiet again and everyone’s ears were ringing, I said,

“The piece you just heard (before the screeching noise) was actually composed by these students in the orchestra.

<At this point the audience applauded>

“It started as our own version of ‘Praise the Lord.’  It became a celebration of God’s creative power and the creativity He planted in each one of these students. Its title reflects both the creativity of the students and God’s own creative work in Genesis.

“Though every student contributed something special to this piece and to the orchestra this semester, I want to take this moment to recognize the extra contribution of one of our members. S., would you stand up? S.S. was enrolled in orchestra class both semesters this year. She has shown great leadership as our only cellist! S., to acknowledge your faithful service to the orchestra for two semesters, please accept this certificate.

<applause>

“Finally, I want to recognize our only senior, J.K. J., would you stand? J. has added life and zest to our orchestra. I think I can say on behalf of the whole orchestra that we will miss your energy, J. As you go on your way, the orchestra would like to present a small gift to you.

<applause – at this point, I handed J. a gift. There was a card signed by the orchestra with 2 Euros for the EisCafe (local ice cream shop), and inside the bag was an orchestra hoodie! J. had been unable to purchase it earlier in the year, so the Berlin crew decided to spend part of the money from the church on Jun’s gift.>

“Our last piece is a goodbye piece, ‘The Turtledove.’ The text is poignant and fitting as we say farewell to Jun, the other seniors at BFA, and all our friends who are leaving after this year. The first verse of this traditional English song reads,

‘Fare you well my dear I must be gone

and leave you for a while

Though I go away I’ll come back again

Though I roam 10,000 miles my dear,

Though I roam 10,000 miles.'”

After playing “The Turtledove,” we exited the stage and let the choir come on for its big ending.

It was the last concert for Michele Phoenix, the choir director. She made it a concert to remember! There were several solos, including one with choreography – “Don’t Stop Believin.'”

4 soloists sang and danced to entertaining choreography

There was a medley of popular tunes by the Beatles. Several kids also had solos in this one.

All the guys did motions for "Yellow Submarine."

The most entertaining song was “What a Wonderful World.” The whole thing was full of props, costumes, and a solo by a student who did a voice impersonation of Louis Armstrong.

"I see friends shaking hands saying 'How do you do?'"

"They're really sayin' 'I love you'"

"I watch them grow; They'll learn so much more than I'll ever know"

"What a Wonderful World"

Michele introduced the final piece of the concert, “Abide with Me,” reminding the everyone that no matter what the future holds and no matter where we go as we disperse to many places in this world, God will never leave us. He always abides with us. He has abided, He is abiding, and He will abide.

Director Tim Shuman closed the concert with a prayer.

It is now the end of a great year of music. It has been a year full of challenges, but everything has been worth it.

What does next year hold? Only God knows, and only time will tell.

Laughter

The students learn a lot from orchestra class, but sometimes their minds are on everything but orchestra.

Sometimes the only things on their minds are eating and sleeping.

K.K. “Can we have a nap day today?”

J.K. walks in the door and says, “I’m hungry.” I responded with, “J.K., when are you not hungry?” J.K. replied, “Um, when I’m sleeping?”

S.S. “I might not be able to come on Monday. But what about ice cream?”

H.J. “Pineapple….”

Me: “When you think about blessings from God, what comes to mind?” S.S.: “Sleep. Rest.”

H.J. walks in the door and asks, “Can we get coffee?”

S.S. “Starbucks!!!”

B.K. “There’s a Haagen-Dazs AND a Dunkin’ Donuts AND a Starbucks AND a Subway. It’s perfect!”

Earlier this week, I was passing out copies of a piece of music. Some of the pieces had copied onto yellow paper because the person who used the machine before I did had left it in there. The first two kids picked the yellow sheets of paper, but there was only white left for J.K.’s part.

J.K. “Aww, I got a white one? But I’m Asian!”

Love

We’ve also had some serious times in orchestra – somber discussions about the dark days of February, talks on how to discern God’s will for the future, plans on how we can put our 50 Euros to some kind of meaningful and positive use, discussions about the value of the elderly, and recognition of God’s creative work in our lives.

We visited the nursing home several times this year, and S.S. always complained that she didn’t like having to talk to the old people. The Monday before going to the nursing home, I took all the kids up to the staff kitchen at the beginning of class and gave them coffee. I normally do devotions every Monday, but since most of the kids have been having devotions all their lives, they don’t focus very well in devotions. This one was different, however. It must have been the coffee and the fact that we were sitting around a table instead of impatiently holding instruments, waiting to play. We talked about grandparents – I told them that I wished my grandparents were still alive because I would love to learn from them; I encouraged them not to take their grandparents for granted. I tied in Solomon’s wisdom – the way we gain wisdom is by learning from other people’s lives. Solomon, the wisest man ever, said that gray hair is a mark of honor.

I brought up the nursing home. S.S. said that she doesn’t like it because they talk to her and she doesn’t know what they’re saying. She can’t get wisdom from them if they’re muttering something she can’t understand.

I’m not sure if my response was correct, but I said something along these lines: “For them, it may feel important to share the wisdom they have in their minds. Just by respecting them enough to listen, you give them a gift. You let them impart the wisdom. They have so many life experiences locked inside their minds, and the least you can do is give them an opportunity to let them out so they can feel they are sharing what they have learned with the world.”

That Wednesday, we finished playing and started packing up. B.K. said, “Should we go talk to the people now?” We did, and we shook hands with them and greeted them. One lady told me (I think) that she enjoyed it and wished we played more music. Every single individual in that nursing home was greeted that day, most by 3 or more people. I have no idea what happened in their hearts that day. I also don’t know whether the kids were any different. It may have been my imagination, but they seemed less hesitant to greet the people.

Learning

We’ve been writing a piece in orchestra class, and we hadn’t come up with a good title. Last Tuesday, we played through the piece. I asked the kids, “Does it make you excited to play this piece you wrote?” They said that it did; they like that they can hear the melodies and harmonies they wrote. I continued, “I think that God sees us, His creation, the same way. He created us for a purpose, and when we do what we’re supposed to, He gets excited! You get excited when the notes you wrote sound good, and He gets excited when you do the things you’re made to do – whether it’s playing music, sleeping, relating to other people, running, doing math, etc. He loves to see His creation in action!”

After that, we started brainstorming a title for our composition. K.K. said, “Well, it’s like what you said. We could name it Creation. Or Genesis!” He went on to explain that it has even more significance – not only does it represent our own creative process, in its shape and form the piece is also much like the story of creation in Genesis. It starts with a single voice in the emptiness – a cello solo – and brings in the other parts. It becomes more and more full and complex, just as God filled the earth.

Wow. Such a cool connection and deep thoughts from my students! I never could have written that piece on my own, and I never would have come up with such a fitting title.

If all goes well, we will play that piece on the Spring Concert in 2 weeks, and I will hopefully be getting a video recording of “Genesis.”

God has brought so many blessings through this year, through trials and through fun times. He knows exactly what we need, and He is the perfect Teacher!

This weekend, I think I had the last of the activities, concerts, performances, etc. It has been busy for the last 2 weeks, but it’s over now (until Spring Concert)!

On Friday we had a guest cellist come in – a BFA grad who went on to get his masters in cello performance and now does freelancing in Chicago. He gave one of my students a very helpful cello lesson (we had been saving up questions for him), and talked to the orchestra about his background and how much practicing he did as a performance major! It was really good to glean some cello-teaching advice from him. He gave me a packet of cello technique exercises!

Saturday was a cold, wet day. I ran up to Marzell for the soccer games. Kurt Strietzel (a maintenance man at BFA) brought wood and made a fire. He made lots of friends that day. The field was so foggy, we could barely see the game!

I started running down the hill after the varsity girls’ game (and after the fire wood was gone), but stopped at Blauen (girl’s dorm) to say hi to the dorm mom, and she fed me and made me rest on the couch. I promptly fell asleep. It turned into an hour-long nap! After that wonderful rest, relaxation, and warmth, I ran the rest of the way down the hill (about 10k). I think it took me about half  as long to run down as it did to run up!

Sunday was Suzanne Morton’s bridal shower. She’s the music department head, so I gave her some special music: string and piano ensembles and solos! We played a game called “musical boxes” that incorporated the skills of one of Suzanne’s piano students. H.L. played a piece on the piano while the group passed a mystery box around the circle. When she stopped playing, whoever was holding the box had to open it and wear whatever was inside for the rest of the shower.

After the shower, I tried to stop in on the elementary school spring concert. One of my violin students was playing a solo with the kids’ choir, but I missed it! I must have been putting music stands away when he played!!!! Oh nooooo!!!!!!

Well, when there are so many things going on, you can’t do everything. Hopefully someone videotaped the performance.