COVID-19 - Week 13 (Piano Exam & School Stuff)

The first main event of the week is that Steve did his Grade 6 Conservatory exam! It was a unique experience as the RCM decided to do exams remotely (using Zoom) this year. Here is Steve preparing himself just a few minutes before the exam started:

Nervous?

Checking his setup

While Steve did his exam, the girls and I ran some errands and stopped for a timbit treat. Now Steve is patiently waiting for his results and starting to look at the next piano level.

The second event of the week is that, since the girls won't be returning to school this year, we were allowed to go pick up their things (indoor shoes, pencil cases, and schoolwork). I also got to check in on Hot Lunch items that I had left in the fridge back in March. Although it was a brief visit, it was nice to see Holsgrove PS and its principals one last time. Who knows if the doors will open up in September!

Reading a note from her teacher

COVID-19 - Week 7 (Pianos & Ants)

The main event of our week was the arrival of Steve's new digital piano! He decided it was time for an upgrade from the one we've had for 8 years.

Almost ready!

Oooh, ahhh

We changed the setup in the room too: the pianos are now side by side instead of the digital piano being tucked behind the door. It has been approved by all!

Bonus: simultaneous playing thanks to headphones

While Steve, Emily and Jessica aren't having piano lessons during the social isolation, they are still keeping up with their learning and practice (it helps that Daddy knows a thing or two). Steve will even be doing his Grade 6 Conservatory exam from home via webcam. That should be interesting!

Now with all the extra time on my hands, I've even started learning a couple of piano pieces. The first was Morning by Edvard Grieg (the song that Jessi played at her recital) and now I'm learning The Song of Twilight by Yoshinao Nakada (one of Steve's Grade 3 songs). It's been fun!

Hmm, that pinky up might be bad form...

In other far-less-exciting news, ants have started appearing, just as they have in past years! It seems to be a seasonal thing and thankfully by now we know how to deal with them. We like this Terro Liquid Ant Bait the best; the ants disappear in 2-3 days.

Holiday Performances

Music is in the air this December! First up: Lorelei's piano recital. Last week I accompanied my sister and her daycare kids to Lorelei's school and had the pleasure of hearing Lorelei perform (and getting a sneak peek at her school!). Even Grand-Papa came too.

Next up was Emily and Jessica's school Holiday Event. Unfortunately, Emily is now too old to participate! She was a spectator with us while Jessi and her class sang a couple of songs.

Learning to do Dutch braids!

We had two issues with our yearly pre-concert "in front of the tree" picture: the girls are not in matching dresses and 1/3 of our tree lights are burnt out! Ha. Maybe next year...

2019

(2013, 2015-2018)

Jessi & friends ♥

Emily and her bestie ♥

In the audience

A post-show gift from G-M & G-P

The third musical event was none other than Jessi's first-ever piano recital! We were all very excited for her as she played Morning by Edvard Grieg. Emily is still doing piano lessons as well, but she opted out of performing. Do what you love!

Jessi's cheer section

Bravo!

Jessi & Emily's piano teacher doing a duet with a student

Rock star!

I've been working on Holiday music of my own with the help of Rock Class 101. Here are the two Christmas pieces that I learned on the ukulele in November/December.

(Rock Class 101 Member Challenge for December)

Three cheers for our musical month! 

The Paul Piano

We've added a member to our musical family! We'd been considering getting an upright piano for the past few months since Steve, Emily, and Jessica are still going strong on their lessons. Also the girls' piano teacher will soon start giving the lessons at our house, rather than at the school, so we figured it would be nice to have an acoustic piano for that instead of a digital one.

After searching for a while, we found a beautiful and reasonably-priced piano on Kijiji. We checked it out two weekends ago and by Monday we had purchased it! Our new piano was delivered on Friday.
 

She's a beaut!

The piano is a 1980 Kimball console upright, Canadian-made in Saskatoon. I love the look and colour of it! We can lift the top up and watch the hammers moving along to the music. Really fun!

Everyone took turns trying out the piano. The guinea pigs weren't too sure about it at first, with its much louder sound, but they seem to be used to it now.

The new setup with the digital piano in the corner

Welcome to the family, Paul Piano!

Let's make music together ♥

Piano Time!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this on the blog a while back, but Emily and Jessica started taking piano lessons in January 2018. A piano teacher comes to their school and offers 30-minute lessons for a fee of $22. Steve signed them up, and although the girls were initially reluctant, piano lessons soon became one of their favourite parts of school.

The girls took the summer off and once again they were hesitant to go back to piano lessons in the fall. We don't force our kids to do a lot of things, but this is one non-optional course for now!

This time we have structured practice times (7:00pm every evening), which has really helped with their progress and enjoyment. It helps that Daddy is familiar with the piano as well.

Jessi sometimes gets quite frustrated when struggling/learning a new song, but hopefully by working through it she can see the rewards. Emily has more patience for learning, but sometimes grows bored of the work and worries that she's missing something in the classroom while she's having her lesson.

Overall though it has been a positive experience. The girls are both learning at a similar pace and from the same book. They have favourite songs and enjoy seeing themselves improve. Steve and I both love to hear them play!