Maddy made a wonderful Valentine's Day box to take to school and I'm glad that she is at an age where she can come up with concept and execute it all by herself. I just have to drive her to the dollar store for the supplies. Her creation came out almost exactly like the drawing she made.
Scott made sous vide steaks and Maddy decorated a beautiful table.
Maddy and I joined grandma and grandpa and Katie's family to see Ally perform in Cinderella at her Jr. High School and then the next night to see Holly perform in Mamma Mia. They both did a terrific job.
Holly's show was with the West Jordan Regional Youth group and she played Sophie and had several solos and quite the big part. She really is a very accomplished actress. They got to perform in the Black Box theater at Eccles downtown and they did a wonderful job.
Also in February Maddy had a pre-recital and Federation. She started piano lessons with Tori Dimond back in October and this was her first recital. Scott and I came to cheer her on at the recital. Tori does half of the students in one group and then the other half. Still there were about 20 students that performed songs at varying levels. Maddy had to play one choice piece and one from the Federation required list. She did a very good job and I'm impressed with how well she plays considering I am terrible at making her practice. She must be learning them at her lessons.
This recital gives them the chance to play on the big Steinway, to perform in front of groups of people and some strangers, and to practice introducing themselves and their songs.
Ruby Marshall takes lessons also from Tori and so we made sure that they performed in the same group so they could cheer each other on.
At the very end of the month, Maddy performed in Federation. We never competed in this when I was learning piano but it is a lot like Solo and Ensemble, which I competed in when we were in Madrigals in high school.
Federation is technically not a competition because it's all individual judging not against anyone else. National Federation of Music Clubs is a non-profit that promotes American Music and is for piano and strings and vocal singing festivals as well. The kids are judged and get a score for their performance:
- Superior = 5 points
- Excellent = 4 points
- Satisfactory = 3 points
- Fair = 2 points
- Needs Improvement = 1 point
Maddy was in a group session at Daynes Music and got to play on a beautiful Steinway. None of Tori's other students were in her group so she played in front of all strangers besides me. She was all angry and sullen and complaining about having to perform in front of judges. I kept saying it's okay to be nervous but she always said "I'm not nervous, I just hate having to perform in front of judges!" She did perform and did a wonderful job and afterwards returned to her seat and promptly broke into tears. I think that she actually was terribly nervous and all that came out in tears afterwards. A nice man there to see one of his kids came up to her afterwards and said "you did such a wonderful job young lady". I think that he saw her upset and wanted to lift her up. It was a truly kind thing to pay her a compliment and try to boost her spirits. I think it helped a little bit when Maddy got her score sheet and she got a "Superior" rating. I tried to talk a lot about how wonderful it was and how great she did to maybe make that achievement overpower the nerves . . . not sure if it landed or not.
So, I bought her spaghetti in the trolley as a reward and that made her happy.
In other news, Scott has been working hard on the basement tearing down walls and building new ones with better insulation and straighter lines. We replaced our heater and air conditioner and ran new ductwork including adding a new heat vent and air return for our bedroom (makes a huge difference!).
Scott's birthday came and went as well and Maddy helped Aunt Amy to decorate the elephant birthday cake grandma baked.
