We heard various students play pieces by Faber, Christopher Goldston, Stephen Foster, Gurlitt, Beethoven, and a lot of traditional music. At the end of the recital, their piano teacher also played a piece by Chopin, and one of her own pieces she wrote which she played beautifully.
I have to say that there was no watching television in our house for the past two weeks (not that we ever do anyway!) They all worked really hard on their pieces. Chelsea played Twinkle, twinkle little star by Faber. This was her first recital and she did very well. She walked up to that piano fearless as if she owned it! Alexandra played a piece by Mozart, and a beautiful piece by Dennis Alexander titled, "Just For You." This piece was very moving and it definitely was meant "just for her" to play.
Sierra was the last one to perform. Of course, the last one to perform always has the more advanced pieces which is impressive. She played Prelude 3: Agitato by Gershwin, and Prelude in C sharp minor by Rachmaninoff. Those pieces require a lot of hard work and lots of practicing. She was so nervous and worried because for the past two weeks, she didn't put a lot of time into practicing her pieces. The past two weeks were trying for her because of school projects and a midterm literary paper due at the end of the week! Going out of town for four days during our spring break didn't help in her not practicing either. Unfortunately there was no piano available at the hotels we stayed at. She did her very best on catching up and practicing her pieces these past couple of days, and she did extremely well. One thing a lot of Sierra's previous teachers admired about her was once they'd tell her to work on a piece...she would return to the next lesson perfecting it and playing it even better.
Alicia Keys said, "But when I first fell in love with the piano, I knew it was me. I was dying to play." This quote reminds me of the first time we bought a piano ten years ago and only had Sierra playing at the time. She immediately fell in love with the piano and couldn't take her fingers off of it. Her sisters are the same way. They all have a talent and I hope that they will continue to play the piano and violin for as long as they desire. I am so pleased with my girls and for the love that they each have with music. Whether they end up playing it professionally or for pleasure... I hope that they will always be motivated to play, and that the music will never end in our home.
Rikki Hein and pianists
"You are the music while the music lasts."
~T.S. Eliot
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