Each year, Cheryl Reeder, the boys' piano teacher, offers her students opportunities to perform in two recitals at her home as well as two community competitions for young musicians. As this is our first year with her, we had no idea what to expect from these competitions, but just signed up with a "sure, why not?" sort of outlook. It turned out to be an excellent opportunity for both boys to really refine their skills and work hard at performing in a whole new venue. It also gave them a great chance to experience that whole "winning and losing" part of life that we all love so much! :)
The first competition in which Chase and Avery participated was the Broomfield Piano Festival. This was a one-day event that began with auditions in the morning for each age group. The winners of the auditions were then invited to return in the afternoon for a public performance during which they were judged for a chance to win first, second, or third place.
It was a really snowy day in early March. I took the boys to the morning auditions, but the auditions were played one-on-one with a judge (no parents or teachers allowed). Talk about frayed nerves! We sat in the waiting area for what seemed like a very long time. The boys played their music on phantom pianos on their legs. I gave pep talks. We all smiled at each other nervously from time to time. It was great!
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| My boys looked so sharp! And a little nervous, too, don't you think? |
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| We took this selfie while Chase was in his audition and we were waiting for Avery's turn. There must have been a snow reflection in the window behind us--bright! |
Each of them played 3 memorized solos by a real composer for the judge. Both boys told me they felt pretty good about the audition. We found out later that Chase had advanced to the final competition where he would play in a public performance. Sadly, Avery did not advance this time. He was really disappointed! Sister Reeder later told us that the judge for Avery's age group was a little grouchy and had not given any helpful feedback for the students. So, that was a bummer, but a good opportunity for Avery to learn that unfortunate circumstances and imperfect people should never be an excuse to give up or fail to do your best! And anyway, Avery had only been taking piano lessons for about 6 months at that point, so it would have been pretty amazing to advance in his very first competition!
It was also really fun to return later in the afternoon for Chase's performance in the final competition. He played 3 movements of his sonatina just beautifully and we were so proud of him! He didn't place in the competition, but we did get some gorgeous photos from their professional photographer that I can post here:
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| Okay--this picture was NOT taken by the professional photographer. It was taken by Nathan using my iPhone, but it was right after his performance! |
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| These next few were taken by the photographer at the event, as you can probably tell. In this photo, Chase is introducing his piece before he plays. That is his teacher, Cheryl Reeder, in the background. She was there introducing the students so she was up on the stage with him. |
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| My very FAVORITE picture of Chase from this competition. SO gorgeous! I love the look of concentration on his face! And I love how handsome he looks and how I can remember his beautiful performance when I look at it. :) |
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| Beautiful! |
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| LOVE! |
The second competition was a much bigger and longer competition, although they only had to play two pieces instead of three. This competition was called TASHCO, sponsored by the Young Artist's Alliance in the City of Thornton. They actually include competitions in all kinds of arts in this event, including dance, drama, strings, voice, and piano. And, once again, they competed with other students in their age division.
The TASHCO competition took place over several weeks. It began with an audition in which they played their two solos for a judge. This time parents and teachers were allowed to observe. The pictures below are the boys warming up in a separate room for the audition.
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| Chase warming up for his TASHCO audition. |
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| Avery warming up for his TASHCO audition. |
Later, we found out that BOTH Chase and Avery advanced to the next level of the competition (hooray!), which again meant that they would play in a public performance and compete for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place. These performances took place a few weeks later, and the whole family was able to attend.
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| Chase is looking sharp for his performance at TASHCO! I had to buy him new pants because he has grown so much in the past few months and we didn't think high-water pants would look good for the competition. :) |
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| A fuzzy picture, but it was the best I could do to get a shot of Chase bowing before his performance. He was quick! #aremyshoestiedyestheyare |
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| And here is Chase in the middle of his FIRST place performance! He was completely amazing! |
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| Oh, my handsome Avery! He looks so dashing and perfectly confident before his TASHCO performance! |
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| Now, THAT is a beautiful bow! |
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| Avery gave an incredible performance in his age division! He did not place, but he got a great score and was simply wonderful! |
This part was my very favorite of the whole competition experience. Both boys played SO well! All of the young pianists were amazing; I couldn't believe their skill for being so young. Chase, in particular, had a completely amazing performance. It was simply breathtaking! I think if there is such a thing as being "in the zone" for a piano performance, he was in it that night! Which is why it is no surprise that Chase was selected as the first place winner of the Junior Division Piano Competition!!!!
Here are the videos of their performances:
As the winner of his division, Chase was then asked to perform in a final recital a few weeks later when they presented the awards in all divisions. We were just ridiculously excited about it all and enjoyed the whole experience enormously! And, a few weeks later, much to our surprise, Chase was awarded by mail for first place with a $100 scholarship check. What? YUP! It was completely awesome.
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| These pictures are terrible in quality, but I am including them to show the venue in which they held the final concert. Here Chase is introducing his piece before performing as the first place winner in his division. |
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| A big stage! |
And finally, one more thing: in the midst of all of this competition, Sister Reeder held another competition for all of her piano students that she called "The Practice Challenge." This was to encourage them to spend more time getting quality practice and performance experience. They got points for time spent practicing, the quality of their lessons, and for any performances they do. The whole competition season then wrapped up with a final recital at the Reeder's home. And that is when we found out that our boys were winners yet again! Chase brought home the first place prize and trophy and Avery earned the 3rd place prize and trophy in the practice challenge. Oh my! These guys just blow me away.
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| They earned enough points for first place and third place in the practice challenge. That means they practiced and performed A LOT in the 3-month period! |
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| Trophies and gift cards were their prizes. Really fun! |
I'm super proud of both boys. They both have a great musical talent, that's for sure! But, more than that, they REALLY worked hard and put in many, many hours of practice to earn the recognition of this year's competition season. And that was the best lesson of all! Way to go, Chase and Avery!!!!!
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