Normally piano recitals tend to be all the same....a whole bunch of kids (quite the variety of ages and talent) get up and play their songs and then sit down while the audience politely applauds after each one. Well...Mr. Hess's piano recitals don't follow the customary hour (give or take a few minutes) that tends to make up most piano recitals. His recitals are full of fun, and of course the excitement of randomness (if you know you Mr. Hess, you know what that means: )
The recital was given in honor of the birthday of Pancho
Gonzales, who was a great American tennis player. He was born on May 9th, 1928. (Don't ask me why...but our recital was on May 9th...so that probably had something to do it...lol)
This was the first year that Mr. Hess did not have a cello student to play...but Josiah Stangl more then made up for that with his lively piece played on the accordion which was followed by an accordion duet with Mr. Hess
Playing in piano recitals has never been on my list of "Fun Things to Do" but this year it was actually kind of fun: ) I personally knew most of the audience which did tend to tone the nervousness down a notch. *smile*
I have always LOVE listening to the Pena's play, and this year was no exception! Maggie played a gorgeous piece from "Finding Neverland", it was just beautiful!
I had played a duet with Betsy for her recital and Mr. Hess liked it so much that he asked us to play it again at his. The "Brightwood Barn" is just like it sounds, very bright and happy: )
It seemed that the more things that were played the more complicated and difficult it got and the more enjoyable it was to listen to! Two other duets were played by Luke P. and Mrs. Ring, and Mr. Hess and Mrs. Ring. They each required a LONG string of music that was taped together resulting in quite the dramatic page turn (or should we say sweep)!
The ending piece "Le Festin" from Ratatouillee, needed 5 volunteers, that were "randomly" selected from the crowd. Mrs. Grady did take a video of it so you may go to her blog and listen...it was quite comical: )
What a fun recital...!!!
Thank you Mr. Hess for all you have taught me: )
