Piano Man

Noah competed at the Pikes Peak Sonatina Festival this weekend and won! He played Beethoven's Sonata in D Major Op. 10 No. 3.

At the winner's recital he played what I call the death march movement (there are 4 movements). It is slow, sad, and emotional. Not very many runs or much piano shaking. But the judges loved it the best. He is entering 3 more competitions this spring.

He has composed a few songs that are really quite good (at least I think so). I'll see if I can get him to record something I can upload to the blog.
One of the problems with Noah practicing so much is that, after months of hearing these pieces, Ike and I have the songs memorized and like to whistle along. (I picked up whistling from my dad.) We can whistle the first 2 movements of Beethoven's Sonata. It’s really rather impressive because, as all musicians know, Beethoven is tough! And they are about 15 minutes long. But Ike and I have it down with our whistling.

It's the perfect picture of ideal family life: Ike sits and does his homework and I lovingly prepare dinner and we whistle along with Noah's practice. ( An observer would assume that we eat strictly organic food, read the classics, and listen to NPR, while we practice perfect diction. ) Then suddenly Noah will stop and let out an agonized wail, "Stop whistling!"

Ike and I smirk, smile at each other, and promise to not whistle anymore. But gosh darn it! We can't help ourselves. If I’m not in the room – Ike will keep whistling until Noah loses it and over-reacts leading to your classic big brother/little brother fight. Complete with chairs being thrown. Ike loves those fights.

Have you ever whistled Beethoven? It is a real stress reliever!