End of year trombone

Oboe Recital Mon June 19th 2017

This was 6 days ago and already feels like a long time.

Estelle's last recital as a primary school student.  On the heels of her big Cycle Exam in May, she pulled this piece off with few lessons and only 1 rehearsal with the pianist.  What an adventure the past 4 years have been!

Léna's Trombone Recital

Such a nice recital today.  I was so surprised as I had no idea that the piece was so "modern" and rather haunting - I had never heard the piano accompaniment.  Also, at home, Léna had been playing it at about 4 times this pace.

Estelle: The Pretty Girls of Ballyroan

This is the other piece Estelle played.  C'est le 2eme morceau qu'Estelle a joué pour son examen fin de cycle.  C'est le repetition generale le jour avant le vrai examen (pas le droit de filmé dans l'examen).

Exam Rehearsal

On May 11th, Estelle had her big 4-year "Fin de Cycle" exam at the Conservatoire.
We are not allowed to film the exam, as it is in front of a jury who deliberates after.
However, the day before, I attended the rehearsal and filmed it.
She played better during the real exam than in rehearsal. Phew!

"Comme un Air de l'Opera" - Trombone Recital

Here's Léna at her recital the other night.

I was convinced after listening to her practice this piece for several weeks that she was making too many mistakes.

We heard 5 other kids at the same level playing the same piece during this recital and Léna was leagues above so I was relieved to realize she's doing better than I thought! Doubtful because Léna is a trombone prodigy (meaning she is *not*), but rather she benefits from her special school program which the other trombonists are not part of. At any rate, we exhaled slowly after the recital.

Armenian danse music: HOY, NAZA EEM"

This is the first piece of Estelle's orchestra for this concert held on March 3rd.  It was 3 hours long!  It was the final concert in a week-long Armenian music festival.  Estelle was in the first two numbers.  The conductor is her oboe professor, Charlotte, who had organized the entire festival.  Estelle is just underneath a microphone that is like a candy-cane shape, left of center. Thomas zoomed in on her at one point. She's a bit blocked by a music stand.

Armenian Concert March 3rd 2017

This is a 2nd piece, a dance piece, adapted for the orchestra.

Thomas could see Estelle but I couldn't. We figured that out towards the end! He took the camera and zoomed in on her right towards the end. Otherwise, you can see her sequined skirt. :-)

Sightreading

I was kind of surprised one day to find Léna sitting at the piano bellowing out the names of the notes to a song.  Apparently this is what they do in their music theory classes, called "solfege".

I decided to film her and asked her to do the song again.  I was so surprised to find out the name of the song at the end!

French Christmas song with Oboe Ensemble

Léna, clip from Jazz number @ Christmas Gala

Estelle, quick clip from Jazz number @ Christmas Gala

Estelle is far right = à droit

Léna dancing at Christmas Gala

Estelle's Oboe Recital

Well, here's another highlight from the past 24 hours....

Estelle & Léna playing during their dance show

Léna's trombone recital

Léna playing "Aire du Saqueboutier". 

Vous Serez Vraiment Grand

Last week, at the "Messe Aux Familles", this is the song that the children played during the Offertory.
We are so lucky to have this young dynamic and progressive Catholic parish next door to us!
The priests truly embody the spirit of real Christians who strive to treat all human beings with kindness, respect, tolerance, and they are transmitting that to the parish, especially our children. A good role model.

Oboe Recital

Estelle's Oboe Recital on Monday Nov 7th. She played this one piece, ironically entitled "La Jolie Julie" by Joubert. It has different parts to it, but is all the same piece of music. Something else to think about besides the new president.

Les Marins

Estelle's group singing a song called "Les Marins" ("The Sailors").  Her chorale teacher in black is named Natacha and she's from Russia.  Estelle had her last year too, she likes her very much.

Léna singing with a Oud player

Wednesday of this past week, both Léna and Estelle were on stage at the Conservatory.  This was the  first time this year for Estelle, and the first time ever for Léna on "the big stage".  
The concert was a little smattering of excerpts and vignettes of the entire programme for the season - lots of professionals performing but also including the young students.

Léna has only had 3 chorale lessons since the start of the school year, but they were on-stage none the less, accompanied by a professional "oud" player.