I had a great time at Tuesday night’s concert.  It was a STL Symphony sponsored concert:  “Symphony Tuesdays at Tower Grove Park”, part of the Community Partnership Program.  The concert was free and was really well attended—the Piper Palm House was almost completely full!  Chris (along with some other folks:  Erin Schreiber, Asako Kuboki, and Bjorn Ranheim) played the Ravel String Quartet.  Then Asako, Bjorn, and two other musicians played some Piazzolla and other tangos.  Afterwards there was a small wine and cheese reception. 

I didn’t get to take any pictures during the concert because firstly I didn’t want to distract the musicians, but also because I was WAY in the back as by the time I arrived that’s all that was left.  So I made Chris pose as he was about to fold up his stand afterwards.

You can see why it’s called the Piper Palm House. Well, at least the “Palm” part of the house!  I’ve played weddings there and attended a reception, but this was the first official concert I attended. 

You can see the crowd of folks in line for wine and cheese.  This is taken from the front of the stage—all those chairs were filled along with even more in the back half of the room. Chris and his group played very well 🙂

Our friends had an Oktoberfest party. (The party I made the apple kuchen for.)  Unfortunately the party was on a Sunday, and I was busy till evening and also had to get up early the next day to teach, so we only got to stop by for a bit.  The invitation had said to wear your best lederhosen.  Well, unfortunately neither of us had lederhosen, so we decided to order fancy hats off the internet instead!  Never underestimate the power of an awesome themed hat.

We have several more parties next weekend.  I love bringing food to these gatherings, so I have been doing quite of bit of brainstorming/research for ideas of new things to make.   Next on the docket:  something pumpkin based ;).

Symphony Tuesdays at Tower Grove Park 

Tuesday, October 19 at 7 pm

Piper Palm House, 4256 Magnolia Avenue

You are cordially invited to…

SYMPHONY TUESDAYS AT TOWER GROVE PARK!!

This is a fun and free-style concert. Please stay afterwards for a reception!

RAVEL String quartet

Erin Schreiber (violin I)
Asako Kuboki (violin II)
Chris Tantillo (viola)
Bjorn Ranheim (cello)

PIAZZOLLA Nightclub 1960, Libera tango
RODRIGO Concerto de Aranjuez
JOBIM/GILBERTO Doralice

Asako Kuboki (violin)
Farshid Soltanshahi (guitar)
Bjorn Ranheim (cello)
Willem Von Hombract (bass)

Free admission.

Just wanted to post this link about Friday’s concert.  It’s free for high school and college students (with valid ID, I guess?) on Friday night at 7 pm.  Powell Hall, Friday night, October 15,  7 pm, FREE FREE FREE.

Program is:

Copland Clarinet Concert (with principal clarinetist Scott Andrews)

Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements

Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings (with Andrew Kennedy, tenor, and principal horn Roger Kaza)

Shostakovich Symphony no. 9

It’s the same program as Saturday night will be (which I might attend if I’m not too tired).

I just wanted to vent for a bit.  We’ve all been hearing a lot recently on the news about how our schools are failing our children and how the teachers are to blame.  Where do the parents fall in the blame?

My parents taught me most everything I know, encouraged me every step of the way through school, helped with homework and projects, took me to lessons, made me practice, made me go to bed early, woke me up in the morning, made me eat a good breakfast, took me to the library for books, took me on educational family trips, taught me how to read at a young age, and more.  They did this for my siblings as well.  We were all expected to work hard and to hold ourselves to very high standards on our schoolwork, music lessons, and other activities.

Today in class I asked my students to repeat a piece and to try to get better intonation (fingers on tapes).  One student raised her hand and said that they always have that problem.  She said it in a tone that implied that since this was their weakness, I should just let it slide, that it would never be better.  I was shocked!  I told the class that even if they might never accomplish perfect intonation, we would always be striving for it.  We should always have high standards for ourselves!  The second time through WAS a bit better.

My point is this:  not all children are so lucky to have great parents.  We as a nation are quick to judge the teachers.  What about the other adults who see our nation’s children even more?

I drove home late Friday night because I had a couple of weddings yesterday. May I just say how thankful I was that all the weddings yesterday were inside, as it was 95 degrees outside. That air conditioning is a wonderful thing!

Today is a day off for me, so I’ve been organizing my binder with my materials from the week…wow, so much wonderful information to digest! I also have a long suggested reading list to get through–many suggestions on how children learn and motivation. I’ll be busy reading for the next few months! First on my list is a new book by Ed Kreitman that I picked up at the institute: Teaching With an Open Heart. He’s the author of Teaching from the Balance Point, which is a brilliant book on how to teach.

The Suzuki Triangle:  Parent, Child, Teacher

My home away from home!