My Sweet Pianist.

I love that Kendall loves music.  She gets such great pleasure out of music; whether it is listening, singing or playing.  She has been taking piano lessons for a number of years now. 

Her current piano teacher has encouraged her to participate in a music festival the past two years.  For festival, she must memorize two songs.  One of the songs is a required piece.  The other song is one that she chooses, but it must meet certain requirements.  She is assigned the pieces just before Christmas. In Spring, she goes before a judge to play her pieces and get evaluated.  The experience is great.  She also gets valuable feedback from a music professional.

This year she was assigned her required piece.  After practicing it for a couple of weeks, her instructor found that the piece was a level above what she is currently playing.  Kendall had to make a choice.  She could learn a new song at her level and pick a 'choice' song at that level.  Alternatively, she could stick with the assigned song, but her 'choice' song would have to be at the same level and from a foreign born composer.  She loved the piece she had been working on, so she decided to go with it. 

I had volunteered to work at the event and had been assigned to be a judge's assistant. 
It was awesome, as I had the privilege of sitting in the room with the judge and listening to all of the students play their pieces.  The judge had all ranges of students, from the four year old little girl who was just beginning to the adult that was playing symphony level pieces.  What impressed me the most is that the judge evaluated each of them with the same level of care.  He helped each of the students feel at ease, but wrote a book's worth of comments for each and every student. 

As it turned out, I was assigned to the very room Kendall was playing in.  The day of the festival, she was a bit nervous.  When it was her turn to play, I switched places with the door monitor.  I was able to hear from outside the room.  She did amazing.  I was so proud of her.  On her second 'choice' song, she seemed rushed, but did a marvelous job.  We were both anxious to get her evaluation back.  The following week, she received her evaluation from her instructor at practice.  She had achieved a Superior rating!  The most interesting thing was to read the judge's comments.  He spent a mere 5-10 minutes listening to her play and was able to nail EXACTLY what she needed to focus on.  I am so proud of this girl and her hard work!