People say that The Magician looks a lot like me. He also has my laziness and lack of motivation--except for brief flashes of passion: his for cooking and mine for all things fiber arts. The Star looks like herself. Her nose isn't really like anyone else's in the family and her blond curly hair is an anomoly. But she's got her dad's need to constantly create and my mom's blue eyes and social leadership skills.
One thing that does seem to be passed down from me: love of band.
Tuesday night was the middle school band concert. One of my kids participated in each of the performing groups--concert band, jazz band, beginning band and 6th grade honor band. And The Star's ensemble from the February solo and ensemble competition was featured. For middle school, these kids were great. Even The Artist (no Band gene!) was impressed. In fact, having him there was really positive, because he got a glimpse into the psyche of the band geek: the joy of making noise in concert with other noisy people, the applause, the joking comraderie.
The band director has invited The Magician to join the jazz band--one of only four 6th graders to get the upgrade. And my kid is stoked! Jazz band is going to be a huge challenge for him as a beginner--new notes and complicated rhythms. But he's found a class at school that interests him, and that's fantastic. If all he had to do at school was read Terry Pratchet and play his horn, he'd be a 4.0 student. I'm really glad that we bought the trumpet he wanted last year--I think having his own shiny silver horn (not a rental, not like anyone else's) is a boost for him.
Yesterday I accompanied the concert band (7th & 8th graders) to the Lower Columbia River Music Education Association band festival in Woodland, a cute town about twenty-five minutes north of Vancouver. Every time I volunteer at school, I'm reminded that I really like my own kids--everyone else's not so much. They were loud, they were rude, they were 12-14 years old. The competition went well though, despite a fire alarm in the middle of their final, and most difficult, piece. Fortunately it was a beautiful day and the 20 minutes they spent standing around outside the school wasn't a big deal. On returning to the stage, they focused immediately, played the piece and got quite a bit of praise from the judge, particularly for dealing so well with the interruption.
I'm still conflicted about my own marching band. I didn't pay my fee to participate this year, partly because my business travel schedule made it so difficult to get to rehersals. Now I've got the time, but driving to Beaverton is still a hassle and gas is about $2.99/gallon here. This is always the conundrum of unemployment: plenty of time to do cool things, but no money with which to do them. The marching band's first rehersal is April 8, so I guess I need to think about it a bit more.
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PREVIOUS COMMENTS
Dang. How'd she get so big and growed up?
Rikki 04.01.07 - 1:11 pm
I dunno, I think she looks a lot like the girl I met as a college freshman a million years ago (ok, well 20).
melissa 04.03.07 - 11:13 am
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