Elizabeth's piano teacher held her annual recital for her students this morning. This short, sweet, informal affair is in a Mesa retirement community's multi-purpose room. Parents, siblings, and some grandparents enjoy the show given by five to twelve year old children. Though today, Miss Leslie started the recital with a performance of her own.
My friend Leslie has had a couple of difficult years lately. She and her husband divorced, and I get the impression that it was pretty nasty. But she seems to be in a very positive place now despite being a single mother of four who's finishing her degree during the day and teaching piano in the evenings. I mention all this because before she played today, she explained how she's really been working with her students on playing with expression. Rather than simply playing the music as it's written on the page like old school piano teachers, Leslie encourages students to really get a feel for the music and make it their own. She puts an emphasis on dynamics and tempo changes, and it really makes a difference in her students' performances. She also makes them memorize their pieces, and I love that!
Maybe just in case her students were too nervous today to remember to play with expression, Leslie's voice quivered as she told us that she loves to play this particular song when she's feeling very emotional. Then she sat down at the piano and played by example with lots of expression. And I cried. So you know it was good. She's very talented.
Maybe just in case her students were too nervous today to remember to play with expression, Leslie's voice quivered as she told us that she loves to play this particular song when she's feeling very emotional. Then she sat down at the piano and played by example with lots of expression. And I cried. So you know it was good. She's very talented.
Most of Leslie's students are very young, and Elizabeth was the oldest today.
I'm thankful she isn't one of those big kids who never practices and lets everyone down at the recital. We saw that often with Elizabeth's old piano teacher. After listening to the likes of Ode to Joy and Greensleeves, you're ready for a more impressive piece and are excited when the pre-teen sits down at the piano. Unfortunately, some kids are forced to take lessons by their parents and don't practice at least a decent amount of time. Elizabeth's no virtuoso and she had a couple nervous flubs like everyone else does at these things, but when today's recital ended several parents came up to her and complimented her on her playing. That was really nice for her. And for us, too.
Here's her performance of Brazilian Holiday if you'd like to hear it.
I'm thankful she isn't one of those big kids who never practices and lets everyone down at the recital. We saw that often with Elizabeth's old piano teacher. After listening to the likes of Ode to Joy and Greensleeves, you're ready for a more impressive piece and are excited when the pre-teen sits down at the piano. Unfortunately, some kids are forced to take lessons by their parents and don't practice at least a decent amount of time. Elizabeth's no virtuoso and she had a couple nervous flubs like everyone else does at these things, but when today's recital ended several parents came up to her and complimented her on her playing. That was really nice for her. And for us, too.
Here's her performance of Brazilian Holiday if you'd like to hear it.
1 comment:
Thanks, Sara for sharing. I am trying to save this. Wow, she is such a mature lady. Tell her she did an excellent job and that I love her.
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