Recorder Concert

Tonight was the 4th grade recorder concert at Peter's school. The kids have been working on the recorder for about the entire school year, and tonight was their crowning glory!

I knew Peter was good, because I've heard him practicing, and I've heard a couple of his friends play, too, who were also good. But I have to admit, I was very pleasantly surprised at the concert. There were no squeaks and squawks, and the recorder is NOT a very forgiving instrument. Not as bad as the piccolo or oboe perhaps, but not so forgiving.

They also sang to several of the songs, and played a variety of percussion instruments, including a really, really low xylophone type thing that I now TOTALLY covet! It had a really nice, rich sound, and of course I have a thing for bass instruments.

One of the things Peter's teacher has done during the year is have the kids play "recorder karate". The way it works is they can earn belts for learning, outside of class, various songs and then playing them for her. The easiest song earns a white belt, next easiest yellow, and all the way up to black. When they earn the belt (actually a piece of embroidery floss), they get to tie it to their recorder. It was totally optional and up to the kids to decide to go for the next level. During the concert, she had all the kids who had earned their black belts come to the front to play Ode to Joy (gotta have Beethoven), which was neat.

And, of course, afterwards we followed Craddock family tradition and went out for a treat. In my youth it was generally to Hardees (not many options in Cullowhee in the 70s), but nowadays we go to Elmo's!

Here's a picture of the Black Belt Ensemble; Peter is way in the back in a yellow shirt with his head ducked.