The girls were excited. Emily was participating in a clarinet choir, and, even though her piece wasn't until the end of the day, she went first thing in the morning so that she could hear others perform throughout the day. Sarah had a 10 am performance, and then nothing until 330, when she had 3 performances within an hour and a half. Whew. I'm not sure the total number of pieces performed by kids from our school yesterday, but I got tired just watching the directors move from one room to another. Many times they had to switch to the next piece of music just as fast, as they were either accompanying on piano, or directing many of the pieces.
We experienced many things yesterday -- from our high school kids -- who always amaze me with their ability to get up and just do this - to the guy who literally gave us goosebumps (not from our school, just happened to be in the room when he sang) and the pretty awesome girl we heard (we heard a rumor about her, but couldn't confirm it - we heard she was second runner up for a position from the Lima area for Glee). We also unfortunately experienced someone who will probably NOT forget this day for quite some time. My heart goes out to her. She was thrown a bit by the judges request for her scale (the judge requested a scale that the performer wasn't prepared with), and was still visibly shaken when she started performing her prepared piece. I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone in that room who was rooting for her, and sending all the positive energy we could her way. If I was her mom, I would be so proud of the way she did what she came to do. She didn't leave (although I'm sure it crossed her mind!), but rather, completed the task at hand.
That caused me to reflect throughout the rest of the afternoon, as I watched kids perform, then rush out to see what rating they were given. Sure, the ratings are important. But really, what is the goal of a contest such as this? Are there not life skills that will be taken away? I think so. In the whole scheme of things, it doesn't really matter whether or not that poor girl knew what a B-flat scale was. But what DOES matter is that she followed through! SHE is going to remember for a long time what happened yesterday, but for many of the performers, if you ask them 6 months from now if they can remember the experience or the rating, my guess is that they will tell you more about the experience.
Overall, yesterday was a great day to experience the gifts that are our children. I hope they know we love them, and all all "I"s in our book!
Next time: Our "Kent" experience :)
Until next time,
Pam
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