Mama + kids = music, art & sports

Daddy + kids = science, math & history

It's so funny to me to watch the activities of the boys when they are influenced by either me or Justin. When we take our turns with the boys separately, the days are geared so differently. With Daddy, the boys are all about science, math and history. When they are with me, it's all about art and music and being active. While Justin was away, we spent our week making field trips to the college practice rooms for their real pianos to practice on. We spent three nights at Sugar Creek rehearsals getting ready for our gig at James Ranch and then an evening of performing and goat herding. (We had a baby goat join us on stage for Wagon Wheel!). We spent a day at the lake swimming and went on countless bike rides. I got the stuff for them to craft in their scrap books and I've had watercolor "classes" at the kitchen table. And we piled all the balls, bats, tennis rackets, frisbees and the sort and went to the park one day to have some skills practice. There is a reason God intended there to be two parents. They learn so many different things from each of us.

Here are a few captures from James Ranch.

Piano Playtime

Since last week was spring break we had double the amount of piano homework this week. The boys decided they wanted to try to do the theme song from the Lord of the Rings as a duet and it's HARD. Aeneas has to count things out and keep the beat and Patrick is reading two hands in the bass clef which is more difficult than it sounds. (I personally hate the bass clef and was so relieved as a kid when I switched from piano to trumpet where I could say adios to reading the bass clef forever!)

All that to say, that through some days of tears and some days of excitement, they have made some really good progress on the song. What's amazing to me is that even now, after a week of hard work and frustration, they still manage to sit down at the piano and "play" at playing. Patrick has about 5 songs that he is currently composing and the other day, the two of them came up with what they call "Ocean Deep." Yeah, they play legos and they play "talkin' cars" and they get on each others nerves and have to be separated at times. But then there are times they do something like this and it just doesn't get any more constructive than that. And that makes for one proud Mama.

Here is a preview of "Ocean Deep" by Patrick and Aeneas. We will see where it goes. And when they are recital ready, I will post their LOTR "In Dreams" duet so stay tuned!

Bluegrass in the Schools

There is a National organization called Bluegrass in the Schools that grants money to communities with an interest to further the understanding and exposure of bluegrass music to school kids. Our Durango Bluegrass Meltdown organizes the grant in our town every year in conjunction with the festival and asks for local bands to play in most of the area schools. We were asked to perform this year and allowed us to choose which school to play at. Of course we showed up at Patrick and Aeneas's school. 

We played some traditional bluegrass and folk, introduced ourselves along with our instruments, gave them samples of each of them and a history on how they fit into the bluegrass music genre. As soon as the first notes were played, they were clapping to the beat. I wasn't prepared for the shift in the tempo with throngs of clapping children. It was a challenge but we managed to hold it together. The kids seemed to love it.

The boys were talking about it all week leading up to the performance and just saying hello to their classes left them all wide eyed and excited. It was so fun!

We will be playing for the Ignacio schools April 22nd!

Piano Update

Piano is as much of our life every week as skiing is for us in the throws of winter. It's an every day, every week exciting family adventure. Everyone is in lessons except me but with my Sugar Creek rehearsals, I'd say our family is pretty much steeped in music. What a gift that is to me to watch it all unfold before me. Had I listed the dreams for our family 5 years ago, I would have never thought to incorporate music into that and yet here we are.

Aeneas is really taking off and as long as we can get him on songs he likes he will work tirelessly until he gets something. He's the no no nonsense piano player. If he doesn't like it, he's not going to work on it! He's been learning the Star Wars theme song and is looking forward to the LOTR for next week. And's really getting in to making up his own songs like Patrick as well. I think he's pretty proud of himself overall. We are certinly proud of him!

Patrick this week performed in the Student Recital as part of the Bach Festival hosted by 3rd Avenue Arts and held at St. Marks. He was fantastic and although I didn't get his performance on video, I did capture him practicing at the church earlier in the week.

You can see the beautiful Harpsichord that is donated for the festival and Scott the Director of the Festival! The festival hosts live concerts and box lunches over the lunch hour every day this week. Gabrielle, their piano teacher, came to support Patrick with his performance along with a number of our other friends. The sanctuary was standing room only. I've never seen it so packed. Durango has quite a collection of talented little musicians. Watch out world!

Working out the kinks before the concert.

Since we only have a keyboard at home, one of the benefits to living on campus is that there are numerous practice rooms right across the street from us. We went over to the college to practice a few times this last week. It's hard to just go over the same piece again and again so I told Patrick to just play whatever to take a break from the Musette and then we can come back to it. This is what he played, totally new and unknown to me. 

My reaction was something like, "Where in the world did that come from?!?" 

He says, "I made it up."

"When? I had no idea you were working on something new!" 

He says, "Shoot. I should have saved it for your birthday. I've been doing it with the headphones on."

Sugar Creek

I started piano when I was about 7 and then moved on to the trumpet in middle school which I played all through college. A friend of mine put it perfectly the other day: font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> 

"I’m average at a great many things and great at an average number of things.  And some things I really suck at."  Ashley McGee Kim

I would add that there are some things I will do out of passion regardless of which category they fit into! I was no hero in music for sure but always had that passion for singing even though I was never in a choir or band.

I was in college when my brother, Zeb, who was already a very accomplished self taught guitarist, gave me my first guitar for Christmas.  Although I loved getting the guitar, I hate to get things I know nothing about so he agreed to get me started with some three chord wonders. I took those chords and was able to at least give myself a little back up to sing my dear heart out (in the privacy of my own room...when no one else was even in the house).

When we moved to Durango a few years ago, I decided to jump out on a limb and try out a jam session. I was terrified, however there was such a support for anyone wanting to learn I mustered up the courage and managed to pull off a few songs to sing and tried my best to keep up with the chords I knew. The people there we so great and always welcomed me with a huge smile like they were glad I had come.

In the meantime, Crystal, one of the sister-in-laws introduced me to the Walkabout Dulcimer. It was love at first sight and I was very near selling all of my possessions to get my hands on one. Lo and behold, Dad came to visit with one in tow for my birthday almost two years ago and I was set. Besides being in love with the lonesome Appalachian sound, I figured if no one else played it, no one know how good (or bad) I was at it!


Afterward came another great act of courage was when I looked on Craig's List one day to see if anyone was in need of a singer and sure enough there was a band there. I still can't believe I even did this. I went to try out but the majority of the band was ready to play out the following weekend which I wasn't ready to do. So our Mandolin player suggested he and I ask a few of the regular jammers to join us for regular rehearsals and see if we couldn't work up a set or two of music with no hurry to play a gig. A band was born!



We played for about a year and got our very first gig at the nursing home in town. A few weeks later we played at the assisted living and then landed a gig at one of the bars in town. Most recently we were asked to play at the Rochester hotel during the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown this spring and also got a spot on the showcase stage of the meltdown. We had a terrific turnout at both venues. The whole weekend was so fun I can't even begin to tell you. We are working through some of our kinks of being in front of an audience and building confidence. I hope you can see us more this next fall playing around town. In the meantime, if you weren't at the meltdown, here are some clips from the weekend.

A gift or just the infinite capacity for taking pains?

Patrick and I go through the often painful routine of practicing piano throughout the week. New material is a b*&#$. I am hard and impatient with him. And he often times ends up frustrated and defeated. Tiger Mom to the tee! But after the first knock down drag out struggle of lectures and time outs for not trying we begin to make some real progress. I am always saying something like:

"All things are difficult before they are easy."

Thomas Fuller

Warning: diversion. When I was a kid, I hated practicing anything. And even now I beat myself up as an adult for not just being a genius, and awesome at at least one thing in my life. It could be music, parenting, patience, art. I honestly don't care what it is. I just want to be a natural at SOMETHING and not have to work at it. I found this quote the other night and maybe there is something to it. OK, so I am hoping there is something to it.

"Gift, like genius, I often think only means an infinite capacity for taking pains."  

Jane Ellice Hopkins

Patrick's piano teacher is terrific. She clearly recognizes both Patrick and my capacity for taking pains. She pushes him to do things most adults would never dream that a kid could do. It actually crosses her mind that a kid can compose an entire song on his own or that he can play elementary Mozart and Beethoven at the age of 7. There is no too young in her mind. I half think she must giggle to herself as we walk out the door as she silently whispers "Good luck with that. He he." Gabrielle's motto must go something like this:

"There is nothing like biting off more than you can chew and then chewing anyway."
Mark Burnett

The latest musical struggle happened this past week. We have a recital coming up the end of April. Aside from a really difficult Beethoven piece that is in the key of B flat(!) with accidentals galore, we are working on a 3 page duet. Justin and I agreed to play duets on a seasonally rotating schedule. He plays in the winter and I in the spring. Well I'm up. This duet has been difficult for both of us. (We used to play duets where he had the easy part and I the more difficult part. We now play at the same level and the day when we trade places completely is not far away.) No repeating parts and a melody that gets tossed back and forth between us. I have some experience in music but haven't taken piano lessons proper since I was maybe 12. (There I go. Making excuses) And naturally, he manages to figure out his part before I do my own. And then proceeds to ask if I would like for him to record his part so that I can practice to it. I agree that it would be helpful and then still can't do it with which he says, "Why don't you let me play it slower for you mom! Then maybe you can get it." Argh.

Last night we managed to pull off the first two pages of the duet. We cheered and laughed and hugged each other. I looked at that kid in the eyes and couldn't believe the sense of pride I had in his dedication, his patience with me and his ability to work hard and then experience the gratification that comes with major progress and success. He deserved an award. I wanted to give him a million rewards in that moment. And promised a special date once we are ready for the recital.

It's tough going and there are times that I wonder if I am helping him become a person of dedication, hard work and success or just tormenting his childhood. These are the moments where I think I can tell. His eyes did not convey the pride in making it through another practice or getting that much closer to off the hook on his progress. It was sheer pride in his own achievements. And as he plays his songs, swaying to the music that only a kid with a real appreciation for something beautiful, it's obvious that he's getting more out of this than what meets the eye. Here is a little taste of the fruit of our labor.

A peek at life in the dorm

Justin and I try to talk about life in general on a regular basis to make sure we are both on the same page as far as what we are doing and feeling. We share our dreams, desires and parenting goals and naturally life's frustrations. It forces us to remember that we are a team. It's hard to keep real and honest, avoiding the curt answer of "Fine." When asked "How's life?"

Sometimes it's heavy and sometimes not so much. One of our latest things that we agreed we wished we could do was to get out to hear some live music on occasion. It's just tough, not to mention expensive with babysitters and planning as many of you well know in this season of rearing these young families.

Well, last night it was like manna from heaven. When you can't go out to a bar because your kids are in bed, well, just invite band right to your living room! These guys are a couple of our students here at the college and when they showed up to our bi-weekly dessert night with their instrument cases in hand, I asked if they might play a couple of songs for us and they followed with a half hour set right here at our place!

They are a very talented duo and are trying to get out to do some gigs in town and are known as "Hearts on a Wire." Keep your eyes out. They plan to put out a CD this summer of some of their work and if you find their group page on Facebook, then you can hear some more of their stuff. "Opus" is extremely good and one of the many they played for us last night. Thank you Tim and Gabe! I hope that y'all enjoy it even half as much as I did.

Check out the video and get a taste of the perks of living on a college campus!

(BTW, remarkably, the kids managed to sleep through the entire concert and a rocking Origami and dessert night! Too bad they missed it.)