We visited our friends for a get-together, and we all tried out their massage chair. It’s a fancy Panasonic model, which is nicer than our generic Chinese massage chair, but I have to say it’s a little too gentle. It’s quite possible that I didn’t find the correct the option on the Panasonic chair, but I missed the deep rolling-ball massage that our chair has. On the plus side, the size of the chair seemed to fit smaller bodies better than ours.
Anyway, the Panasonic chair was super-relaxing, especially after a big meal of Texas barbecue and IPA. Oh, the good life! 😄
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO2500 “Spring Concert” Cedar Park, 2019
Tonight was the Spring Concert, and Koa performed in two pieces. He didn’t play marimba this time, but was on the electric piano for one song and then cymbals for the other. It was a nice concert, but I prefer the ones where he plays marimba or timpani.
The school year is almost over, and it has been a successful one for Koa. He still loves band, and he’s doing great! Very proud. 😄
Today is bittersweet because Bay’s last piano recital was this afternoon. He’s been taking lessons since he was about 9 years old, which means he’s performed in about 16 recitals (which seems crazy to me!). But since Bay will be going to college in August, this was his final recital.
Surprisingly, he had chosen to work on Franz Liszt’s Campanella for the recital, which is a notoriously difficult piece to play. We were worried because he’s pretty busy with school, and also he’s not the most eager to practice, but happily, his performance at the recital was great. He only slightly stumbled a couple of times, and they weren’t any pauses. During the intermission, his instructor said, “Bay almost gave me a heart attack, but he did it!” I had the same feeling. 😄
After the performance, his instructor said a few nice words about Bay, and Bay told the audience about his future plans of studying Architecture. It was a really special moment. 😂 We’re sad that he only has a couple more months of formal lessons, but I am hoping he continues piano on his own in the future!
Anyways, here’s a couple of photos and a video from when Bay first started his piano career:
What a busy, but great day, we had! Koa had a percussion competition in the morning down at Texas State University in San Marcos, then in the afternoon, he performed in the Grand Finale Concert of the Austin Youth Orchestra. After that, we headed back down to San Marcos for a percussion master class, and then we found out the results of the competition. And the results were great – Koa received 4th place (out of 29) for his marimba performance!
Not only was the competition great, but the Austin Youth Orchestra performances were fantastic as well. Koa played timpani in a Stravinsky tune (which was really fun to watch), and snare drum in a Tchaikovsky tune. It was awesome. If you have a few moments, give them a watch/listen:
The grand finale concert marks the end of the spring session, and I am pretty sure Koa will want to join AYO again next year. I am happy and amazed that his level is so high at just his freshman year. Looking forward to his future!
