I'd really like to get caught up to the present, so rather than go month by month I'm going to try to sort these pictures into groups and knock this out! First we will go through all the musical adventures of the last 6 months.
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It's the 25th anniversary of Lone Peak this year, so Ms. J put together an alumni choir for a special commemorative concert. We practiced weekly on Wednesday nights for a couple weeks and since we were living at Forbes', Drew and I could actually go together! There was a lot less flirting from across the room than I remember, but getting to sit next to all my sisters and in front of all the Dowses more than made up for it.
Such a blast from the past to be sitting in that choir room again, laughing at the old jokes, reveling in the (now more mature!) sound of hundreds of voices singing together.
Mrs. Jolley came to accompany. I love these women, so!
We sat on the front row for the concert so pregananant Sarah didn't have to stand.
Colette pretended to be a tenor so she could stand next to Drew.
Melanie decided after the first rehearsal that she was more excited about appreciating the concert than singing in it. It's always nice to have an ear in the audience to get a report from afterwards!
We missed Drew's far away singing siblings. Why do you all live so far? (That's the pot calling the kettle black for certain).
It's so fun to live here! Do you know how much I love to be able to go to Colette and Alex's concerts at BYU?
The school of music does a free Family Concert Series. This concert was "Trumpets, Trumpets Everywhere!" It was highly interactive. My kids especially enjoyed the music map where you trace the shape of the music (Indiana Jones theme) with your finger.
Lots of the nieces got to come watch.
I know Kate hates candid photos, but they amuse me.
Here's the photo we were actually setting up for. Vivien took it for us.
We went to Kane's for lunch afterwards, because Colette loves Kane's.
And we love Colette!
Alex and Uncle Rex gave a Romantic-era salon concert in September. Alex said a few words before he started, to prepare us for what we would hear. Colette and I were a little bit late, so I didn't hear the whole thing, but I keep thinking about the comparison he drew to playing on the strings we're used to vs the strings they played on in the 1800s, and wearing tech fabrics vs natural fibers. The ease, convenience, and performance of one cannot be denied, but sometimes you want to sacrifice those things for the feel and quality of the other. Then he basically told us he was probably going to make a lot of mistakes, so deal with it. It was transportive, as always. I love these cousins!
We also got to go listen to Coco play Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and the Firebird (just wow!).
I had not slept well the night before, and Haley saved me from being the next Firebird Scream by nudging me awake in anticipation of the Infernal Dance of King Kashchei. It was a near thing. Coco's sitting outside, last stand on the right.
As for my playing-in-orchestra experiences, right after we moved here over the summer I tried to find out what was going on with Utah Valley Symphony. Their website hadn't been updated in quite awhile, so I wasn't sure how they had fared through the COVID times. I sent emails and texts to everyone involved in the orchestra that I still had contact information for from when I played with them a decade ago, trying to set up an audition, but didn't hear back from anyone. Who I did hear back from immediately was John Pew from TSO, so I went with the bird in the hand. It was an odd audition process. John sent me the excerpts and a date and time, but when I went to leave for the audition I realized we had never decided on a place. I assumed it would be in their usual rehearsal space, but the rest of the audition committee was actually at someone's house in Orem. Oops. So, John said to just come to the first rehearsal and we could do the audition afterwards, and then by the time rehearsal was over he was so tired that he only had me play one of the excerpts before saying, "Well, I think it's obvious you play very well. Welcome!" They let me sit by Haley in second violins. She's the best stand partner there is!
The first concert was all French music. We got to play the orchestra version of Debussy's Petite Suite (super fun, since we play the piano duet version all the time at home for fun), Bolero, Faure's Pavane, the Can-Can, the Chaminade Flute Concertino, and the Poulenc double piano concerto with the Brinton sisters. Stephanie Brinton was in my grade and I remember her from Sterling Scholar stuff. They were incredible! And I'm happy to know the Poulenc now; he drew inspiration from a visiting gamelan orchestra he heard in Paris in 1931--brought back memories from our Bali trip.
A few weeks into rehearsals I finally heard back from Utah Valley. Their rehearsals and concerts are a lot closer for Haley in Provo, and I love playing with and learning from Bryce so much, so we both auditioned for UVS and were accepted. I played the 1st movement of the Barber and the excerpts, and sweet Bryce said, "Listening to you play those pieces reminds me of what fun music that is!" We told John we would finish out the first TSO concert and then switch over to UVS full time (two orchestra rehearsals every week on top of the LPHS choir rehearsals was a bit much for my little family; Drew was a long suffering champion through September).
It was a fun concert. Drew didn't love it (he hates Bolero) but Melanie did!
Oh, what a delight that first rehearsal with UVS was! Bryce has such a gift for making orchestra an uplifting experience. He always makes a point to pause and express gratitude and appreciation for everyone's work and for the opportunity to make music together. One of the orchestra members asked me where I live and when I said Highland they said, "Oh wow, you come a long way." Totally worth it.
Especially for a guaranteed 2 hours with Haley once a week! She's so funny. Here's her sul G face:
The programming for the October Concert was like a Halloween dream come true. (You can't see Haley's fingers in this one, but the violin you hear is definitely her, hitting all those many, many notes.)
The strings had to stay the longest fairly often to work on our Midsummer Night's Dream fairies.
How we suffer...
Actually lots of sections had tricky things this concert. The winds played Nimbus from Harry Potter.
And the clarinet and cellos had a beautiful moment in Family Portrait.
The board wanted us all to dress up for the concert. Haley and I decided to go the Marvel route. I really liked Sylvie's costume from the Loki show...
...so I decided to try to recreate it. Jacob printed me a headpiece with his 3D printer.
It was my first time working with EVA foam to make the armor. There is a wealth of information on the internet. The first thing to do is make a pattern that fits your body, starting with a base of saran wrap, then laying masking tape down over top of it to make a somewhat stiff model, then sketching out your pattern on it. While you're wearing it. Looking in a mirror. That was tricky!
Then I glued all the smaller pieces on top of the base using rubber cement.
I used some leftover black fabric from Halloween (more on that in another post) to make the cloak. I had a hard time finding a green fabric for the lining that was the right color. No luck at Joann's or Walmart, but I found one at Hobby Lobby that was close enough.
I used a special cosplay paint that dries flexibly to paint the armor.
I machine stitched the back zipper in at first, but the stitches were too close together and it basically scored it and made it easy to rip, so I went back in and sewed it decoratively by hand.
Haley went for the classic Scarlet Witch look. She wore her headpiece to the dress rehearsal to make sure she could play in it.
She looked so cool!
Just look at her on stage.
It was a funny sort of concert with all the raggedy costumes.
The program was so enticing with Harry Potter...
...and Pirates...
...that we actually SOLD OUT both nights, before I'd even gotten tickets for my family! I have never had that happen in all my years of orchestra. Haley and Jacob's friends from BYU, Brooke and Luke, were able to snag tickets...
...along with trusty Colette!
We went out for ice cream afterwards, looking very foolish walking along Center Street in Provo.
Very foolish, indeed.
But it's refreshing to be a bit foolish sometimes.
I volunteered Drew as an usher for Friday night so he could come (look how official he is in his black) and just brought the kids along in hopes that there would be a few vacant seats for them somewhere from no-shows (there was). There were cosplayers to take pictures with in the foyer. Hagrid needs bigger hands to match his enormous feet.
Here we are! What a good time.
Cynthia Richards used to be the concert master for UVS, but she retired last year. Gavin (who was in Shauna Davies' studio in high school with me) was our concert master for the October concert, but his wife had a baby so he wasn't able to play the Christmas concert. Anne asked me and Haley if either of us were interested in auditioning for the position (immediate and emphatic "no"), but then she said exasperatedly, "No one wants to do it!" And that was all it took for the guilt to start ticking away in the back of my mind until I texted her to say that if no one else stepped up then I would be willing to do it for the Christmas Concert. I seem to get a lot of jobs this way.
Jacob said it was really cool that I got to be "The Grand Master."
I was in charge of the seating chart, so I put Haley next to me. Call it nepotism. That's exactly what it was.
The City of Provo hires us to do their Christmas concert every year and in exchange we get to use the Covey Center for our other concerts. It's a pretty sweet deal. The concert includes such Utah Valley legends as Mindy Smoot Robbins...
...and Dallyn Bayles (there was definitely some fan-girling)...
...and Marvin Payne, who is a guitar wizard, turns out. We were back stage together before the concert started and he told me I was doing a great job and that I should tell them that he said I deserved to be the concert master all the time. I wish I liked it. It's exciting to be so close to the action, to sit right next to the soloists and be able to see every cue Bryce gives, but Haley said it best one rehearsal after Bryce encouraged the strings to watch their section leaders for the appropriate articulation so we could have a unified sound. Haley buried her face in her hand and mouthed, "I'M A FRAUD!!!" Imposter Syndrome to the max.
My favorite part of the concert was getting to play the evening prayer from Hansel and Gretel. And that Meme got to come and enjoy it. I feel very supported by my wonderful family!
I'm having a grand time playing hard stuff with Colette. We've been working on the Halvorsen Passacaglia duet.
I found it on Scribd, which means I only have music when my iPad isn't dead.
Or my phone, if the iPad isn't around.
Sometimes we meet after orchestra rehearsal and find a practice room.
Always a win when we can get Colette in a practice room!
I've also been trying really hard to learn the Rebecca Clarke viola sonata to play with her. It's definitely above my skill level, but it's good to have something to work towards, right? Stretching!
She's so funny, this Colette.
I love to watch her vibrato. And her tiny self playing that giant instrument.
Here she is teaching piano every Thursday, makin' musicians (and the monies).
Speaking of piano lessons, Rafe has started taking piano from Lindsey Rhodes Newman. Yes, I am capable of teaching him piano. Am I capable of being consistent about it? No. Is Lindsey amazing and wonderful and a joy to be around? Yes. Everybody wins.
He's doing wonderfully. And he's so funny. Listen to him practice his flash cards.
Lindsey teaches from the Faber Piano Adventures. The duets are delightful.
We have a lot of fun playing together.
Vivien also started taking guitar from Marcus's teacher in high school, Tara Tarbet. She uses a free classical guitar method you can print off the internet, but it is not in English. I do enjoy saying "Fyrsta Streng."
It reminds me of:
It was so fun to have her be able to play some Christmas carols for us to sing along to this year. She's doing very well, though she practices the same way she does her Saturday chores. 10 minute chores take allllllll day. Her teacher has a bead system set up. If they practice, play for fun, come to lessons, or pass off songs, they get different colored beads to put on a pipe cleaner. She likes to collect the beads and make them into bracelets.
Annie was feeling pretty left out of music lessons, but she got a violin for Christmas! We're renting it from Bert Murdock and it's a sweet little instrument. The bow has golden sparkles and the pegs are Wittner pegs that take 8 turns to 1 turn of a regular peg, so it's pretty easy to tune. She got it out right away to see what she remembered from her lessons with me this summer.
She's taking from Libby Halbrook (like Rose!). It's so hard to get all those Twinkle variations down with the right form. She's been a little frustrated lately, but it all started to click this week. Not like this. This is just messing around. Though I'm sure there's an instrument somewhere you play like this.
Drew has been practicing the drums a lot during his work breaks. It helps to have the drums in a separate room than his office, so that it actually feels like a break. The kids like to dance to the preset drum rhythms. One of them sounds like cats meowing to a slow beat.
I got a microphone for Christmas. Bo and Jordan came for a New Years visit and we used it to record some stuff. We need to get a few more cords and then I'll be able to hook it up to my phone...
...which will be helpful because I just got called as the Primary Song Leader and I've been having to do virtual singing time for the last 6 weeks due to the recent COVID case spike. I went through the Primary cupboards with Kristina, la Presidente, and I found this old picture of Rex and Colette in there. Kawaiiiiiii
Four more pictures! I got to play with a string quartet of orchestra friends to accompany a local choir's Christmas concert.
Lacie sent me a messenge one day and asked if I knew anyone who could play the violin part for Savior, Redeemer of My Soul for her uncle's baptism. I said, "pick me!" Such a treat to see her and hear her sing again!
Joel was in the choir for a Messiah production in Pocatello. I couldn't make it up for the actual performance but I got to watch the broadcast and it was fabulous and made it feel like Christmas for reals. He's second row from the top, 3rd in from the left.
And here's a sweet Jade at the piano. That's musicky, right?
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