Countdown to the Concert - #1

Today's the day,

What more need I say?

Countdown to the Concert - #2

We spent a long day preparing for our concert tomorrow. We rehearsed both in the morning and the evening, baked dozens of cookies and worked on other projects that are more secret! We are very thankful for the help of Mallory and Elsie D. They kept the cookies baking as we flitted in and out with various activities and desparately tried to keep organized. We are also glad they brought along a brother to keep Noah company! We are grateful for Aunt Paula's excellent decorating skills and for Uncle Bill cheerfully helping where ever needed. It is lovely to have so many friends to help us put on a party!

Our dining room table was just about as full as it could be.

We went over to the church to do some initial set-up this evening.

Will you be filling this room tomorrow night?

Countdown to the Concert - #3

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We didn't do much by the way of concert preparations today. However, we did manage to squeeze in the tiniest bit of practice plus I worked on a very special and secret gift for somebody involved  in the recording project while Mom took care of the turkey!

Countdown to the Concert #4

The CDs are here!!! Dad brought them home this evening. We couldn't be more excited. :) Having the CDs arrive two (business) days before the concert is directly on the deadline and we were getting concerned. But that's all over now. There're here for the release and we're thrilled.

This moring our practice was running on "performance energy"; I could feel it. I wonder if this will last for the next three days nonstop! Besides rehearsing the music, we're printing signs, organizing decorations, folding brochures, and adding to a growing list of important items for the concert.

Janna and Sarah getting their first glimpse of the CD.

Each box contains almost 100 CDs.

And in case you were wondering, no, we haven't forgotten Thanksgiving. :) We're also preparing for tomorrow's celebration. It might not be a extravagant as some years, but it will be a joyous time all the same, and we have to much to be thankful for!

Have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!

Countdown to the Concert - #5

Today we had a three-hour rehearsal with our music coach and co-producer Terry. Our recording engineer Michael, and his wife Lynn came over to rehearse a few tunes and hear how we were sounding. To say that we had a lively rehearsal would be putting it mildly!

Rehearsing with Terry on the hammered dulcimer

I kept having to move my harp between Terry's two studios because he didn't want to move his dulcimer!

Look at all the instruments on the wall behind Kathrina!

Terry even pulled out his Joker's had for Noah to wear. I told you it was lively!

~ Janna Rae

Countdown to the Concert - #6

At 9:00 this morning we had a session with our vocal coach, Steve. He said our voices were doing great and he wishes he could come and hear us, but he will be performing with the Singing Christmas Tree Saturday night. I also just put eight of our famous Butter Pecan cakes in the oven in preparation for the refreshment table. Krista and Kathrina also made a batch earlier this afternoon. It is a secret recipe handed down through the family, and I think its secretness increases its fame!

~ Janna Rae

Countdown to the Concert - #7

Our entire forthcoming week has been planned around one event, our upcoming CD release concert! So to give you a small taste of what preparation goes into a musical party for two hundred we are going to attempt brief daily updates.

Today we had our non-related grandma and her husband over for a house concert. She will be out of town for our CD release concert, so it was fun for her to get a preview of the music! It was also very helpful for us to have a more focused rehearsal, everybody tends to step up to performing mode. One warning though, inviting old friends isn't always best if your intent is to avoid laughing instead of performing...

Better Late Than Never

I apologize for the lack of posts around here. There are a couple reasons for it; the first being that I am such a focused college student this year I don't have time for blogging, the second is that we are busy getting ready for our CD release party (and therefore have been blogging of nothing else), and the third is that our digital camera has now been broken for a month. Repeated calls to the camera shop only reveal that the other camera shop (where they send broken cameras) is downsizing, so consequently work is piling up and our camera is somewhere in the pile. Mom pleaded our CD release concert and the first camera shop agreed to give us a loaner if our camera isn't back by then. It really is a very nice gesture, but rather funny because we will probably rely on some trusty friend for our photos rather than madly trying to remember the words to the songs and who we haven't taken pictures of yet!

Anyway, because of lack of visual material to post and lack of time to formulate witty words as a substitute, I'm posting a video. I originally planned this for August as a birthday tribute to our wonderful producer, Terry, but we were too busy actually working with him on the CD! It is a video of us playing our arrangemnet of Concerning Hobbits/In Dreams from the Lord of the Rings at Terry's birthday party in August 2008. Enjoy!

~ Janna Rae

CD Release Concert Count-down

Hello all! We are counting the days to our Release Concert! Its only three weeks and two days away. We're busy distributing posters, baking sweets, brainstorming fun and new decoration ideas, and preparing a program of Celtic, traditional, and contemporary Christmas music. I changed all the strings on my violin and got my bow rehaired. My mandolin is up next for new strings (but not the rehairing ;)). Krista, Terry, Lynn (our engineer's wife) and I are having special rehearsals for the concert. I'm not saying what we're rehearsing but it links to this. (Hint: these rehearsals are great - simply breathtaking.) If you haven't got an email and poster for the concert you may want to click here and ask to be added to our concert email notification list.

~ the Fourth Rose