Clayton's piano teacher is Russian. She speaks with a cute accent and uses English words like "unusual", "official", and "original" interchangeably - making for some hilarious misinterpretations. She's also Jewish. So she doesn't ever teach piano lessons on Shabbat (which is our Saturday) and (as we recently discovered) always schedules her piano recitals on Sundays. Which sort of causes a dilemma for us. Last Sunday was Clayton's debut at his first piano recital. Except he didn't go.We couldn't because we would've had to miss church. And after several lengthy discussions, Nate and I had to draw the line somewhere. Clayton was heartbroken. Okay, not really. But I was heartbroken. So his teacher suggested he have is own "unusual" piano recital at home. Which he did.
He not only performed everything by memory but he wrote his own program and made copies for everyone. I was glad to see he included one of his own compositions, "Rain and Thunder". And surprised to see "Joy to the World" (????) - a random Christmas song I had never heard him play. And even MORE surprised to NOT see his . . . um. . . recital piece? The one he'd been preparing for the real recital (before we knew we weren't going).
Oh well. . . the concert was superb. Even without "The Juggler".
We set up the video camera and recorded the whole recital - which lasted 11 minutes. Mostly because of Clayton's long-drawn-out introductions to each piece. . . "when you hear this song, think of it as a boat in the ocean floating along in the bright sun (and on and on). . . If I mess up, just think of it as a big storm at sea that knocks everyone off the boat." He's serious. The other children were a great audience and Nate and I did a good job maintaining our composure during his over-the-top descriptions.
Here's the 2-minute (music only) version. (Don't worry grandparents and posterity. I have the unabridged version on DVD. It's priceless.) "Be a good audience!"
And for Christmas? Shhhh. . . here's what I'm giving Clayton - to keep all his compositions organized (and preserved).
Bravo! Claykid. We're so proud of you.
5 comments:
Wow... I must say I am very impressed-- especially with his original composition! Go Clayton!
I am very inspired, I have been trying to decide what to do for Jeffrey's piano recital. What a great idea!
He is getting soooo good! I love the way he lifts his hands off at the end of phrases and the dynamics in the Clayton original "Rain and Thunder." He's really grasping what musicality is all about. Awesome!
Wow! A mini-Mozart. Let see... Clayzart?
What a special kid! I love that he is writing his own music. My mom just went to a Kurt Bestor concert and came home and told Luke to play a tree (apparently he said something about his mom telling him that when he was a kid). Luke just looked at her and said, "I don't know that song."
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