Music All Around

Between my vocal practices, the kids trying out for the school musical, and piano lessons, there is a lot of music in the house these days.

Every morning, I do my vocal exercises from the Natural Singer workshop with Claude Stein at Kripalu.  While I remember most of the techniques, I did sign up for the online lessons; I receive a new video or audio file each week for a year.  So there are a lot of "mmmm" and "ahh" and "nyawn" around here.  And more actual singing, too.  (Learn more about Stein and his workshops here.)  I haven't been to the musical Taize service recently, but I love the singing meditations we do.

Auditions for the school musical were last week.  Both kids tried out; neither wanted us to hear their practice song.  I was even helping out at auditions but didn't really hear them.  Sis sang Cohen's "Hallelujah," which they'd sung at the marvelous school music concert a few weeks ago.  Bud did "My Shot" from Hamilton.  The director said we should YouTube it and send it to Miranda, which was kind to say.  But Bud does remember a lot of lyrics and performs with gusto.  And both kids will be in the musical, though Sis just wants a background part.  Bud goes for callbacks today; he'd like something a little more.  And he moves well.  We'll see.  A little speaking part would thrill him.  From here, we have about four months of weekly rehearsals.  So, lots of music, lots of the time.

Bud and I still take piano, though Sis decided not to this year.  He's been playing "Memory" from Cats and "Winter Wind" by the Piano Guys, a long, lovely, and complicated piece.  I think the Cats song brings out his melancholy about dear Mo and Mr. P, who died a year ago.  He plays, is reflective for a bit, and then perks right up.  I'm practicing "The Entertainer" and it's coming along slowly; I'm also trying to put my favorite "Finlandia" into memory--that goes even more slowly, though I've been playing it for two years.

Sis has been focused on her violin, which she plays in her room.  As I mentioned, there was a concert a few weeks back, both choral and strings.  Sis is in the first violin group and Bud is one of the only cellos, both in the advanced (5th & 6th grades) orchestra.  They both plan to continue playing in junior high but are not sure if they will still be serious in high school.  See, only one high school in town has strings, so their interest becomes more broadly important.  Well, if we even still have public schools by then, with public-school enemy #1, DeVos, as Secretary of Education.

And we all like listening to music on our Sonos, a digital device which handles our music library.  I can call up any song we own while seated on the couch and choose where in the house to play it and how loud, creating my own playlists.  It's fantastic!  Hamilton has long been in the queue, sometimes current pop songs.  And I have been listening to the medieval chants of Hildegard von Bingen.  No doubt we'll put Sunset Boulevard into rotation soon.  We have tickets to see Glenn Close in a few weeks.

Then, who knows what, but you can bet there will still be song here.

Music to My Ears

Sunday was our piano recital--and it went beautifully!

Bud went first, playing "Maple Leaf Rag" and a rustic dance without any sheet music!  And I don't think he missed a note.  I love watching him play.

Then Sis went, playing my favorite "Cups" song and something called Rockin' 6.  I think it was the best I've heard her play them.  Really well done.

And then it was my turn.  "Greensleeves."  Ugh.  I missed a note in the first several bars but recovered without making a sound or a face . . . and I finished playing the whole thing, perfectly (for me) even though my hands began to shake almost uncontrollably, just like last time.  But I kept them moving and finished the song.  I almost cheered for myself!  Whew.

And I won't ever do that again.  My first recital was an experiment; this last one was a kind of redemption since I didn't feel like the first one went as smoothly as I'd hoped.  So I accomplished what I set out to do.  Let the recital be for the kiddos.  I'll still take lessons--love them!--but I don't need to perform again.  Makes me too anxious.  And I've discovered, since Sunday, that I now play the song even better without the nerves of thinking of the recital--and I have memorized it!  I now have a nice song I can play anytime, anywhere, without the music.  Yay!  This was one of my major goals of piano lessons.

But back to Sunday.  Because it had gone so well for all of us, I was able to sit back and enjoy the rest of the pianists.  They really are a talented bunch.  And we all have a great teacher.

Both of which we celebrated with sweets afterwards.

Advent Activities: Christmas-y Weekend

On Saturday, we went to the mall, our annual pilgrimage to the altar of American consumerism.  But not for the shopping.  Bud's kung fu team was doing a performance to entertain holiday shoppers.  We did do a little shopping at Hot Topics, with all its geeky Doctor Who and Star Wars stuff, more to distract Bud from his performance than anything else.

After a stellar event, and some Froyo, we watched that very traditional holiday film . . . Hunger Games.  Yep, the kids are knee-deep into the story of Katniss and Panem, plowing through the books and now starting the movies.

Yesterday was the kids' annual December holiday piano recital, which went off swimmingly with Sis playing "Hedwig's Them" and "Shake it Off," and Bud playing "Home Fried Potatoes" and something which title I forget ("Stepping" or "Swinging," something.)  They went first and second and were glad to be done, sitting quietly through numerous Christmas, pop, and classical songs and waiting patiently for the snacks at the end, including my orange poundcake, which was popular.

We headed home, counting Christmas trees as we went--we count all season and are up above 90 spotted on the roof of cars from the nearby popular tree farm.  We have an artificial tree, because of the cats, and have decided to put it up on the last day of school and making a celebration of it by staying up late decorating the house.

On the way home we also saw a holiday bazaar in an historic building and stopped to look around.  I picked up a Bucilla Christmas ornament kit exactly like the one my great-grandmother made for Aunt Banana and me when we were little, with kittens and mice in stockings.

And I took some photos of decorated doors on historic houses in the area, which really capture New England Christmas for me.  Makes me doubly glad we'll be doing Christmas by Candlelight at Old Sturbridge Village soon.

But first, we watched . . . Catching Fire.  Such cheerful holiday fare.

Piano Forte

My piano lessons are picking up in intensity now that we're back on a more regular schedule  . . . and I can practice more with the kids gone during the day.  When they're here, there's usually something to do besides piano; my practice flagged over the summer.  But now, I have nine clear months to practice and improve.

I'm almost at the end of my adult piano book(Adult All-in-One-Course), but we've also branched out to its companion volume (Alfred's Adult Piano Course:  All-Time Favorites) with longer songs and no theory.  "Finlandia," "Hungarian Rhapsody," and now "In the Good Ol' Summertime" are all from that book.

We had done some chord chart reading, if I've got that right--it's just the chords, no melody--often figured out by enthusiasts and posted online but not really officially published.  I've tried a few of these without too much success, though I was getting the hang of the Indigo Girls' "Language of the Kiss."  I might try "Touch the Sky" from Brave and "The Skye Boat Song" from Outlander next.

Also on my list to try sooner rather than later:  "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter and "Concerning Hobbits" from LOTR, both of which the kids have played.  Plus "Amazing Grace" and "Simple Gifts."

So, it's an exciting piano time for me.

Though, honestly, I don't really know if I'm going to play in the recital.  Yes, I did it in the spring, just a month after surgery--what could be harder than that?--but I don't really have a piece ready and I don't really know if I have a handle on how not to be nervous and shake so much.  Let's just say I'm leaving my options open, which is just fine with my piano teacher.  I have almost two months to decide . . . and to get a piece ready.

The kids, of course, could be ready now!

Hey Ho

Undeterred by my nerves at my piano recital, I'm still taking lessons.  And learning a new skill!  Up to now, I've been reading music, your typical piano sheet music with treble and bass clefs.  I have dabbled with fake books, where they give you the melodies and the chords are noted above.  Now I'm learning the opposite--I have a chord sheet for "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers, so that I play the chords and either sing or pick out the melody on my own.  It'll help me learn my chords well, especially having to invert them.  I don't really have an ear to pick out the melody myself so we'll have to see what happens.  But I'm excited about the challenge.

Especially because the next recital is almost seven months away and I won't be playing and singing!

Our Wonderful Weekend

What a weekend!

I'll have to rest all week!  No harm done; feel pretty good, considering the level of activity--nothing a bunch of watching "Wolf Hall" and other things won't fix.

I hadn't been sure about this weekend.  With a church banquet to celebrate the buddy program (where adults and kids secretly exchanged treats), a play on Saturday, and the recital on Sunday, it was too much.  But I wanted to do it all.  Except I was nervous about doing any of it--long car rides, walking a lot, and, of course, playing "Finlandia."  So, we narrowed it down.  We skipped the banquet on Friday, sending a treat along in our stead, and made arrangements for Saturday and Sunday to be easier.  And in the end, it worked really well.  I'm so glad it it worked.

Saturday we went to see Camelot, in a touring production in Hartford.  I love Camelot.  I first saw it, with Gommie, around 1980, with Richard Harris in the lead.  It was my favorite musical as a child, at least before Phantom of the Opera came along.  I sang it for weeks afterwards and even decorated my room as Guinevere's!  I even hid my alarm clock, lamp, and stereo under cloths because, of course, there was no electricity in Camelot.  I saw it again in a high school production . . . and then I haven't seen it in 30+ years.  (Because I don't like the movie with Vanessa Redgrave.)  But I sing the songs weekly and it's still one of my top ten.

So I was so excited to hear it was touring, buying the tickets last fall.  And it was pretty good!  (Especially considering it was a touring, non-Equity performance.)  The actors were credible and strong singers (definitely stronger than those in Joseph), the staging had enough period flare, the costumes were rich, and I love the music--though, they cut my favorite song, "I Loved You Once in Silence."  The cast had been pared down so there wasn't the full stage during "Lusty Month of May," but I liked it all.  And so did the kids.  We even all (mostly) got teary at the rather depressing end.  Well worth the journey up.  And even though all I did the whole day was sit--in the car, in the theater seat, in the car again--I was tired.

A little bonus:  we picked up Tibetan food to take home for dinner!

And then Sunday.  Ah Sunday, the recital.  The recital I've been practicing for these last four months.  I was nervous and then I'd be okay, but at least all of the tiredness of Saturday had left me.  And so we went to the place where it would be.  I was playing fourth, behind one child and then my two.  Bud played "Gigue" and "Forth Eorlingas" (from LOTR) beautifully.  And Sis played "Grand Old Flag" and the theme from Star Wars better than ever--sounded wonderful!  Then it was my turn.  And, well, I never knew my hands could shake so hard.  After playing the first few bars just fine, I lost all control of my fingers and hit so many wrong notes.  We had practiced everything else, but I didn't know how to calm them down.  I barely made it through the piece, even dropping two bars in desperation.  It was awful!  But I didn't flap my arms or make bad faces (I think I made one, which a friend's husband noticed!) or squeal.  And everyone clapped when it was over and I got hugs from the kids.  I heard the rest of the marvelous pieces--the children of two other friends played their pieces beautifully and there were so many talented kids whom we've watched over the last few years.  A few even played complex pieces by the Piano Guys.  And all the while I listened and marveled at their skills and noticed that almost everyone made little mistakes, I thought about my performance.  And you know what?  It was okay.  Better than that, it was wonderful!  Not my piece, but that I did it under all these crazy circumstances.  And I was the only adult who played.  Well, there's always a first time and it's over.  Everyone was very gracious afterwards, saying how well I did, and maybe I covered my mistakes better than I thought, though I doubt it--maybe they don't know "Finlandia."  Sis presented me with flowers afterwards and I got a medal from the teacher.  It was a lovely, lovely day (made even more so with potato chips and Ben & Jerry's afterwards!)   But perhaps I'll leave recitals to the young from now on.  (Or not, because I could only get better from here!)

We have nothing big on the calendar for several weeks, if any, and so I'll rest, relax, and recuperate, with lovely memories and a real feeling of accomplishment.  Definitely adding this to my list of affirmations!

Practicing to Fail

Perhaps I should say "practicing to falter."

I had one of the most interesting piano lessons yesterday.  As you know, my very first piano recital is on Sunday.  After seven months of lessons, having not been able to read much music or play more than "Good King Wenceslas" (the easy version) when I began in September, I had said I would play at the spring recital alongside all of the kiddos; I've been practicing my piece, "Finlandia," for three months.  And then, well, emergency.

I have debated whether I could play since having my surgery.  Everyone, family and piano teacher included, is encouraging and understanding--play if you can, don't if you can't, but don't stress about it.  I've practiced the transitions where I move my hands so that they are smoother; I've practiced the timing because sometimes my count is just a bit off.  I've even practiced in front of people--the kids, Mama, Gommie in-laws, friends--so I get used to playing for others. Some days, I get through my song just fine; other days, I hit so many wrong notes.  Pain and narcotics usage definitely has an effect.

So yesterday, my teacher and I practiced how to mess up.  No faces, no squeals, no waving my hands in frustration.  Play through.  Pretend you didn't mess up.  Slow down if it's a part that troubles you (or speed up right through it!)  If it's an egregious mistake (several wrong notes in a row), start the phrase over.  If it's the first few notes, start the whole song over.  She says that everyone messes up, that oftentimes only the players notice.  It's a very forgiving audience.

And you know what?  Recognizing that I knew how to fix a mistake--acknowledging that I was going to make a mistake and should therefore not aim for perfect (which, my teacher called a "crapshoot!")--freed up my playing immensely and I made fewer mistakes!  Some of the paralysis left.

So, for now, I'm definitely playing "Finlandia" on Sunday, mistakes and all.


(Because I know people like an update, yesterday was really good.  I stayed on top of my pain meds and had a good, useful, relaxing day.  I have follow-ups with cardiologist on Thurs and surgeon on Friday.  Expecting it all to be fine.)

Practice, Practice, Practice

The strains of "Finlandia" are now a constant in the house.  Because I'm going to be in a piano recital!  On Tuesday, we started the song (one of my favorites), the next one in my book, and my teacher said, "This would be a perfect piece for the recital in April."

I've never played in a recital, a childhood rite-of-passage for so many.  Mine will be in my fifth decade!  The kids are very supportive and excited for me.  When I said I was thinking about it, they chorused, "You have to!  Play, Mom, play!"

Who can say no to that audience?

Advent Activity: Piano Performance

Yesterday, the kids participated in a concert at a local nursing home, organized by our piano teacher.  Sis played "Good King Wenceslas" and "Good Night, Ladies," while Bud played "Linus and Lucy."  They did well and seemed to enjoy it.  I know the residents did--lots of clapping and thanking them afterwards.  I'm glad the kids have the chance to share their talents.  And I'm proud that they do.

Watch This!

This is what we went to see tonight, an early Christmas present--the Piano Guys, yes, with one who plays a cello.  Watch a few videos and I'll tell you all about it later.  If you only watch one, do the third one.  We all had a great time and were inspired to practice and play our instruments.

Music Mystery

My piano lessons are going swimmingly.  I'm playing several fun ditties--"Cuckoo Clock," "Beautiful Brown Eyes," and "Alpine" something-or-other, from my Adult All-in-One Piano book.  And I've added several Christmas carols to the mix--"Jingle Bells," "Joy to the World," "Jolly Old St Nicholas," "O Christmas Tree," and "Deck the Halls."

But occasionally my mind wanders back to music I played 20+ years ago the first time I took piano lessons, for two or so months, after college (I think it was.)   They weren't great lessons; he was a young and unchallenging teacher, not really stressing that I learn to count or keep time.  But we rushed through all the major keys and I photocopied lots of songs I liked.  There were a few that stuck with me--"Musette" by Bach, a piece called "The Knight and the Lady," and this other piece, which sheet music I had lost (which I swore had a picture of a castle on it.)  I could sort of remember the tune, but not enough to play it, mainly because I don't play that well and I don't easily parse music into notes.

I looked in our books and online and finally realized that the book the music was in was John Thompson Modern Piano Course, which also had the aforementioned "The Knight and Lady.".  And when I showed Mama the cover on Amazon, she said she had  used that book as a child!  Which of course meant she still had it; I found it in a minute, down with the other piano books in the basement bookcase.  I flipped through it hurriedly, passing "The Knight and the Lady" but not finding the piece with the castle I remembered (there was a castle drawing, on another song.  See I'm more visual than auditory.)

I remembered that it might have been in one of the old costume dramas that I love, something based on Jane Austen . . . was it perhaps a minuet?  Did Margaret Dashwood play it?  Did Lizzie Bennet, only tolerably?  No searches yielded much help.  (But I liked this.)

So I went to the piano and began to fiddle with it.  Amazingly, I seemed to catch the cadence and soon had an idea of how it went, maybe even remembering playing it.  Mama wrote the notes down as I called them out, really simply:  e f e g g,  d e d f f, c c d d e, g f e d.  It sounded real, better than I could have made up in my head for sure, but she didn't recognize it.  And so I let it slide.

Until we came upstairs and I googled, "how to search for sheet music by notes" and came up with Musicpedia, which has a "Name that Tune" search.  I typed in my song with the notes Mama wrote down and kept trying to search.  And odd songs were coming up in the search results.  But I had all half notes.  And that isn't really what they are.  So I tried to guess when they were quarters and half and such, to make it sound like a melody--amazingly, the website let's you play what you come up with so I could tweak it.  But it took a long time to make it sound as close as I could recall.
 
And about an hour into this effort of tweaking and adjusting, it came up with this:

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus: piano sonata No. 11 in A K331, 1st movement
 

I was off two notes and in the wrong key, but it looked promising.  But my computer wouldn't play the melody from Musicpedia, so I found Mozart's sonata on YouTube:

That's THE SONG!!!!!

And guess what?  It is in the Thompson book!  Called "Air by Mozart," only there's not a picture of a castle.  (I guess my visual memory failed me where my auditory one didn't.)

But it is on the page opposite "The Knight and the Lady."

Talk about an earworm.

But I'm just absolutely astonished that a.) I could figure out the tune well enough to search for it (yay for my piano lessons!) and b.) that the computer could make sense of what I typed.  Isn't the internet amazing??

Our Austen Evening

On Sunday afternoon, our piano club, newly christened a "piano society," met at a friend's house. For a few hours on that chilly, windy afternoon, we sat inside listening to our children of all levels play a variety of piano pieces--popular ("Let it Go," "Walking on Sunshine," "Red and Black," "Secrets," Coldplay), classical (two different "Carol of the Bells), folk ("Old Susannah"), jazz.  And all I could think of was Jane Austen. That somehow in that afternoon twilight of the first day of the time change, when the day ends before you're ready, I was transported to another era when people sat around playing and listening to music.  (It helped that there was a lovely antique cross stitch in black silhouette of a woman playing piano.) Sure, we were recording some of it with our digital phones and the pieces were not Regency, but no one was surfing online, no kids were playing video games, there was no tv on.  All the music was real and live, not MP3.  And I was so grateful that we had come together to give each other this gift.  So I even did my part and played mediocre renditions of "All Through the Night" and "When the Saints Go Marching In."

Told Me So

Oh, Lambeth, I should have heeded your warning about piano practice:  I have sprained my right pinky!  It had hurt a little before I had started taking piano, but my doctor thinks I hurt it with overzealous piano practice.  Yep, first a crochet injury, now a piano injury!  It's not awful, but I'm resting it, taped to my ring finger.  So, not much crochet, typing, fingerspelling, or, of course, piano, for ten days or so.

Obviously, though, I can make do.

Besides, I have to keep practicing my "Jingle Bells."

More Piano Pride

I played a song on the piano today with notes played on different hands at the same time!!!  For me, this is the ultimate accomplishment, even if it were only "Jingle Bells" with a few simple chords, played very slowly and haltingly the first time through.  But it was one of my main aims for taking lessons and I'm on the right path.

Christmas carols, here I come!

Piano Pride

I've started piano lessons!

Yep, having that nice, new piano just sitting in the living room, silent all day while the kids are in school (because, when Bud gets home, it's not silent much until bedtime!), I decided to take lessons.  With our current, peripatetic piano teacher. She usually teaches kids but expanded this fall to include adults.  And so two of my friends whose kids study with the teacher are taking, too.  I've even heard we might have wine-and-music evenings INSTEAD of recitals!

And so I've begun.

I took piano the first time 20+ years ago, for three months one summer before grad school.  With a teacher--a young man at the local music studio--who was still in high school, I believe!  Sure, I learned some notes, I even learned hand positions for all of the keys and could cross over during some songs, but we never did any counting (like with a metronome), nor did we ever do any harmony or chords. This meant I could only play what I already knew and it was always pretty simple with only one note at a time.   I can't recall if that was at my request or he didn't manage to teach me counting and chords, but looking back it seems like we rushed ahead in some areas and stayed way behind in others.

Now, we're doing it right.

Of course, I have no illusions about being a master piano player.  I just want to be able to sit down and play a few songs, even from memory.  Simple folk songs, definitely Christmas songs.  Maybe "Happy Birthday."  In talking with the teacher, we're wondering if I should learn chords so that I can play from a fake book--simple harmonies alongside simple melodies, should sound good.

I think the teacher was surprised that I could actually recall the notes of the treble clef and figured out the bass clef if I went slowly enough.  I think I was surprised, too.

The kids were surprised most of all, I think, when I sat down and plinked out "Aura Lee" (aka "Love Me Tender") this morning.  Bud is ready to teach me his songs!

I think I have a ways to go with that.

'Tis the Season

Sure, the Christmas decorations have been in the stores for awhile now, like this:

I think Big Bird can take 'em.

And like this:

From early October--but where are the Thanksgiving decorations?

But now the Christmas spirit is infiltrating our home!

Yep, the kids have begun practicing their holiday recital pieces.  Sis has "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas," while Bud is still choosing.

And those are mixed in with some ghosty music for Halloween.

Makes my brain spin.

The Sound of Music

As if third grade and a new school weren't enough of a new adventure, added to that separate bedrooms and separate classes, Sis and Bud have decided to take up string instruments as part of their school's extracurricular music program.  She wants to play the violin; he wants to play the cello.  Mama is excited and inspired to play her own violin.  I'm just glad they aren't planning to play the same instrument.  But I do have visions of our own little string trio, them and Mama. And some worries about the practice sounds of non-silence, though I've been assured that it gets better fast.  It also means that they have to practice piano and their stringed instruments (they don't want to give up piano.)  And also the recorder flutes they play in regular music class.  At least they're motivated and excited.  And I did always want them to play an instrument.  I just didn't envision three!

That Time of Year

Even though we have almost exactly two more months of school, most of our extracurriculars are winding down and wrapping up in the next month or so.  Yes, it is time for recitals!  Our first one was yesterday:  Bud's spring piano recital.  You may recall the tension of last fall's performance (ahh, tellingly I didn't relate that part in the post, I see!  We arrived early at the library where it was to take place--not our town's library--and were told by the librarians that we had the wrong spot, so we went running around to the spot they thought, only to find out they were wrong and we had to go back to the library, getting there right before Bud's turn. And the librarians were extremely rude about it all. Very stressful.  This time the piano teacher straightened out the librarians in advance.)  This time the only glitch was Bud not being able to hear all of Goo's "break-a-legs" during his encouraging phone call before the performance (ah, I remember the time I went to Goo's piano recital, when he was maybe 15 or so?  He played last, the best!)

Anyway, Bud played both of his pieces beautifully--"All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera and "Cool Strut" from his workbook.  And his teacher handed him a ribbon afterwards, which he proudly had me pin on him.  He spent the rest of the recital listening and taking notes on what he wants to learn how to play:  "Fur Elise," "The Entertainer," and, odd one out, Taylor Swift's "Trouble."  I blame that last one on little Babysitter who makes music videos with the kids of Swift's songs.

Next up:  Sis's gymnastics exhibition, for which she is excited to wear a new pink leotard that matches the new hula hoops.  She's in the floor routine.  More about that in a couple of weeks.

He's Playing My Song

Bud had his first piano recital today, after just four months of lessons (and only 3 months with this teacher).  With a plate of homemade brownies in hand, we made our way to the library.  Bud played in the middle of the program and waited with increasing anticipation.  But he played his two pieces, "Good King Wenceslas" and "Joy to the World," very well indeed.  We were very proud, not only of his performance but in his interest and persistence in learning a new skill.

And yes, I cried.  Though, oddly, not during his part--I cried during the pieces of people a few ahead of him and then only again on the way home!

Coincidentally, "Wenceslas" was the first song I learned how to play during my summer of lessons after college, but his is already a more advanced version!

Play it Again, Mom

Yesterday, Bud had his first piano performance.  He and other students of his wonderful teacher entertained residents of a nursing home.  Bud played "Spoonful of Sugar" and "She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain."  I hear it was great.  Mama recorded it on her phone but has had problems with the playback.  He'll have his bigger recital in early December, playing "Good King Wenceslas" and others.  We're very proud of him.

I actually didn't get to see him because I was taking Sis to a birthday party at the local kiddo club.  There, all the guests danced to current pop music, sang karaoke, and played games like "Coke and Pepsi," freeze dance, and balloon races.  Sis was dubbed "Little Rihanna," though I'm not sure of the similarities!  Anyway, Sis sang along to "Call Me Maybe" and danced to "Gangam Style," "What Makes You Beautiful," and "Never Getting Back Together."  None of which I knew; I'm not even sure Sis knew any but the first.  Which means either Glee is behind or I need to catch up!  Sis was wonderful, singing and dancing and playing with energy and excitement, even though she'd been a bit nervous about being there without her Buddy.  Now she wants to have their birthday party there!

I think there's going to be a lot of music in our house the next few weeks, between Sis singing the songs she learned and Bud practicing for his recital.  Music to my ears.