Sharing the Gift of Music

" May your home always be too small to hold all your friends." - Irish Proverb

This quote has been true my entire life. For the first part of my life, it was because my home was so very small, (not because I had so many friends), but over the past several years God has blessed us with a slightly bigger house, and a great deal more friends. Since obtaining this somewhat bigger house, my sisters and I have been anxious to try our hand at entertaining, and mom has graciously agreed to all of our schemes so far.  Our most recent gathering was having the entire P. family over for an evening of dinner and music. We all enjoyed getting to know them better and playing music together.

Kathryn brought us these beautiful flowers, and Sarah and Andrew brought us a lilac bush to plant!

Above: Laura, Kathrina, and David.

They literally came through the door with bagfuls of instruments and music which gradually where scattered over our livingroom over the course of the evening.  Laura had a viola-de-gamba, which we enjoyed hearing for the first time (we had only ever read about one). David brought his mandolin.

Krista enjoyed attempting to sightread recorder ensembles with Andrew, Brian and Laura.  The rest of us tried to double parts on our respective instruments. The impromptu arrangements sounded quite good, I thought!

We closed the evening by singing hymns together. What a blessed way to finish the visit! 

When the day is over and the music gone by, I think that it is not so much the music itself, but the sharing of music that binds the evening, and us, together in a special way. Truly, "The most beautiful music of all is the music of what happens." - Irish Proverb

~ Janna Rae

Unanswered Riddle 10:

What do you do if you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

Unanswered Riddle 9:

How does a snowplow driver get to work on a snowy morning?

The Rehearsals

Behind the scenes of a concert, there is rehearsing. That word conjures up lots of other words describing my experiences practicing together...painful, fun, energetic, slow, distracted, focused, effective, arrangement-building, even relationship-building...the list goes on. :) Although there was a time when I didn't enjoy practicing together, I'm happy to say that in more recent years I've grown to enjoy and appreciate it more and more.

Unless it's a before-breakfast-instrumental-only rehearsal, we typically gather in the living room for vocal warm-ups. Of course there was yesterday when Janna, multitasking, was still on the computer upstairs and so she warmed up her voice from there, (apparently not taking into consideration the delay between the sound downstairs and her sound upstairs). After warm-up and transitioning into the rehearsal by running through a song a few times, we prioritize what we want to spend time working on. We practice various parts of a song various ways, listening for a tight, beautiful blend. There are decisions that have to be made about details; precisely when should we finish singing a word? All four of us need to pronounce the ending consonant at the same time!  Exactly how do we want to sense that ritard? Sometimes we get intense, and we've found that breaking it up with a good laugh and then focusing again is quite helpful. Other times Mom dances in and gives encouragement. Still other times I get extremely excited about making a new arrangement, or remembering a forgotten one, that I jump up and down. And there are always times when I'm coming up with a new harmony part, and have to have the other girls play a section over and over and over. At least the end result is gorgeous and fresh. Sometimes we stay focused, and sometimes we start out focused and stay so only until something is interesting enough to distract us. For example, yesterday Janna randomly said, "If we ever get a clear player, I think we should watch Seabiscuit". Sarah asked why and Janna explained...part way through the discussion we suddenly remembered we were supposed to be practicing, but we finished the discussion anyway. ;) That's all for now; Sarah is calling me to come rehearse!

~Kathrina

Concert Poster!

Unanswered Riddle 8:

Why is it called rush hour when everyone slows down?

GORGEous

For Mother's Day, Mom wanted to go hiking in the Columbia Gorge. We all thought it was a lovely idea, and so she pulled out her books and trail guides, and we set our destination near Multnomah Falls.

Krista and I trying to rescue Krista's hat from Noah's clutches...

...however, we decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

Dad reading the trail signs.

The hike began by winding up through woods filled with lush vegetation.

Noah resting on the hillside.

The sun shone, and the trail climbed higher and higher. It's very refreshing to hike level with the hills!

Janna on the trail.

Triple Falls...they were simply gorgeous.

Mom and Dad ♥

All of us children with Mom on the bridge.

Noah decided that he should eat his lunch across the creek from the rest of us. So he took of his shoes and and the handy, removable bottom portion of his pant-legs and started from stone to stone across the water. Then he had to decide if he should wade, or try to jump from there.

He got across, only to realize that he'd left his sandwich on a rock halfway.

Here he is, tossing the sandwich to shore as he wades across.

This small butterfly seemed to enjoy Krista's company.☺

The trail to Upper Horsetail Falls goes right behind the waterfall!

It was the perfect way to spend a perfect day.

The Story Behind the Yellow Ribbons

I was the first Harmony Road music student to enter the piano concerto event of the National Federation of Music Clubs piano festival.  Soon other students began putting in the effort required to learn a classical piano concerto.  Then Janna also took up the concerto challenge. The NFMC concerto list includes pieces by famous composers like Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven which can often be heard played by famous pianists and professional orchestras.  For the piano festival, the student must learn one movement, memorize pages of music, and bring it up to a high performance standard.  The student must also work with the accompanist, who plays the orchestra part on another piano.  No, rushing off at one's own speed and no forgetting when the "orchestra" has a solo and when it's time to bring your part back it again, and chords on the downbeat should sound at exactly the same time!  All these details must be in place while performing for an adjudicator who is writing comments and deciding a grade while listening to you!  Learning a movement from a concerto is a big accomplishment!

That's why I am so thrilled to see Krista and Kathrina take up this challenge.  They are both busy high school students.  They both have other instruments which they prefer to focus on.  But they worked hard all year and what a beautiful performance came of it!  Krista and Emily C. (another Harmony Road student) performed Mozart's Piano Concert No. 20, 2nd movement on April 22nd.  Kathrina provided solid accompaniment for both.  Krista and Emily each received a Superior rating and Kathrina received several compliments and many thanks.  And best of all, the musical and technical skills that were carefully honed to insure a stellar performance will find their way into so many of the girls' musical endeavors.

Congratulations Krista, Emily and Kathrina!

~The first rose

Unanswered Riddle 7:

What do sheep count when they can't sleep?