It’s Ashley’s turn to be the musician now! Today was Ashley’s spring piano recital at Libertyville Manor. They have this nice open area with a baby grand (it was more in tune the last time we were there). Her teacher, Mrs. Schiller, splits her students into two groups, so there are usually 5-6 students in each group. Ashley was last on the schedule for this recital, a sort of “closer”, if you will. Good thing too. I know I am the mom, so I am naturally biased. And two of the other kids are friends of the girls. But Ashley had 4 pieces, 2 of which she did by memory, and the difference between the other kids and her was pretty striking. I don’t get to fully appreciate that Ashley has an aptitude for piano until I hear her play after other kids her age/training experience. She sounds like a player many years older than the pint-sized entertainer that she is! So on to the music so you can hear for yourself!

She opened her set with “The Can Can”, which she did from memory (but at a slightly slower tempo than she plays at home….)

We go next to a number called “Arkansas Traveler”.

After that, she played “The Entertainer” from memory. She had to learn this one because Kayla performed it at her gold medal earning Solo Fest in March.

She finished off with “Over the Rainbow”, dedicated to her three grandmothers in attendance.

When each student was done, Mrs. Schiller presented him/her with a special gift – an acrostic of their name listing the special traits about each one. Here is Ashley’s acrostic.

And a final picture of the whole family together! Yes, that is Grandma in the background.

If you look to the left of Grandma, there are two ladies. The one farthest to the left is Vivian, who is 100 years old and plays piano by ear. I guess she has been there a while, because Grandma remembered having some meals with her when Grandma was recovering from her surgery the few years ago. Grandma tried to talk to her and remind her of how they shared meals together. Vivian’s hearing was not too great, so she thought Grandma was telling her it was time for lunch!

It was a great recital! This coming week, Kayla’s band teacher is visiting the 3rd grade music classes so that students can be tested out on instruments because band starts in 4th grade. Ashley is excited to see what instrument she might be good to play. She wants to play flute, so we might have another instrument in the house (as if that is anything but a good thing!).

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms! Our blogs are the evidence of those well earned titles – we wouldn’t be moms and grammas and great-grandmas without the little darlings that we all blog about and comment on!