A Song

Today I'm going to share with you a song. I love the Piano Guys so much, and I listen to them all the time. Every so often my favorite song of their's changes. Right now my favorite is "Moonlight". I didn't used to like this one,  I thought it was ok, but it wasn't spectacular or anything like that. However, when I listened to it again the other day I thought it was so good! I love Beethoven, and what they did with his sonata is just amazing! My favorite part is when the music dies away he's running and then the music comes back!!!  Anyway, you should give it a listen and I hope you like it!!!!!

Snow!

It's snowing outside so I decided to make it snow on my blog!! I hope you enjoy the 'new look'!!! :) I, personally, love the snow!!! Have a great week!

What I'm Reading

Can you make a guess as to what I'm reading??? Here, I'll give you a hint:

You would never have guessed that I've been reading The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien, right???  I'm actually planning on re-reading the entire series over the next few weeks. I try to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy every year around Christmas time, but this year I started with The Hobbit (because the movie was coming out) and so I didn't start them as early as I usually do.  However, after having read The Hobbit, and most of The Fellowship of the Ring I am beginning to realize how great of an author J. R. R. Tolkien was! He wrote such a complex story, with many different 'main' characters with a variety of different conflicts, but under all of that there is the main conflict that all the characters are connected with in some way or another.  All of that adds together to make a very interesting and exciting book/series!  I highly recommend you read this book if you haven't already, and if you have, you should definitely read it again! 

Buckeyes

Today we're going to talk about one of the most wonderful team in college football... actually we're not. We're going to talk about the most wonderful Christmas candy known to mankind! Buckeyes! (or Peanut Butter Balls if you come from some place up north where they don't like Buckeyes...) These are so good!!! Seriously, it's peanut butter and chocolate, how can you miss?? 

Doesn't it look just amazing?? I love these wonderful candies and I hope you can find a recipe that works for you! (of course I can't possibly share our secret recipe ;)) I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I hope your day is full of wonderful things!!! This year, we're doing something 'normal'! It's crazy! Ever since we've moved we've done something different every year! This year, we're not going to New York, my brother's family is staying here, and we're just going to have a 'quiet' Christmas! 

Here is a beautiful Christmas song for you today! 

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill to men"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

More Christmas Music!

Christmas is right around the corner!!! Everyone is so excited!!! My mom took us to the mall today and we went shopping!! It took forever, but it was mostly enjoyable. (I don't really like shopping very much...) As far as I know, some people bought gifts, so it was a successful shopping trip! 

Anyway, the Christmas song that I'm going to share with you today is one that my wonderful brother showed me last year. It's on one of the Christmas CD's that we just have here at home, but we never actually listen to the whole CD. However this song was hidden and we had to discover it! It's called "A Strange Way To Save The World" and it's sung by 4Him. I really hope you enjoy it as much as we do!!!

Wanderlust

I've been feeling this great desire lately to go somewhere, and today I want to to go Ireland! It's so green and beautiful there with rolling hills and amazing views! I love countries over there because they have such old and interesting histories! You don't come across an old castle built in the 1300s in America!!!! But you do in Europe!!!! 

Just look at that!!!!!

It's just so beautiful!! 

I just want to stand on the edge and stare out at the water!

It's amazing, shall I say it's epic? :)

It's so beautiful!!!! I really hope that someday I can go there!!!

The Christmas Shoes

I'm not just trying to copy Michael, but I like Christmas songs, and it's only 8 days until Christmas so I just have to do some Christmas songs!!! They just happen to be the same ones that Michael posts because he posts good Christmas songs!!

Anyway, the song I'm going to share with you today is called Christmas shoes. This song is very touching and the first time I listened to it I cried so much! I don't cry so much anymore but sometimes when I listen to it I cry. Our old, old church from before we moved once did "The Christmas Shoes" as the Christmas play. I don't remember much, except that I was told to be quiet and not bother anyone, I was kind of young. Anyway, once we were listening to the radio on the way home from church here, and it played and it was so touching, I just loved it! Anyway, here it is, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! :)

'Till I Hear You Sing

A few months ago my brother and I were looking at the cd's in our library. We found so many that we wanted to listen to, as our library had an extensive collection of good music. One of those cd's was Love Never Dies which is a musical that was written as the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. Since The Phantom of the Opera  is such a good musical we just had to listen to the sequel. It turned out to be kind of a not so good story with all the cool characters turning into jerks and stuff like that, however, there was one really, really, good song in the musical. That is "'Till I hear you Sing! I remember the first time I listened to it, we were in the car on our way home from something in Indy and Michael was in the backseat and he just put the headphones on me and said "listen to this" I did, of course, and we've just loved it ever since! Another time we listened to it was at the Obermeyer's and that was memorable because (well because it was the Obermeyer's) but, it was late and we needed to get home, but then the cd got stuck in the cd player!!! But Mrs. Obermeyer loved the song too, so it was worth it!! It's such a passionate and beautiful song! I hope you like it!! "My broken soul, can't be alive and whole, 'till I hear you sing once more!" It's just beautiful!!!! 

Le Festin

A few years ago my family watched Ratatouille for the first time and we really enjoyed it! It's such a thought provoking film and of course Pixar makes the best animated movies! I remember watching it and thinking that the music was just amazing! So of course my sister went straight to the library and got the soundtrack and we just loved it!! We would listen to it while we worked in the kitchen and it fit perfectly with the mood! (hmm I wonder why?? ;)) Anyway, sometimes fixing dinner would be plain awesome! :D One of our favorite tracks from the soundtrack is "Le Festin" I hope you like it too!!!

Another Christmas song!

Christmas is just right around the corner! (If you follow my brothers blog, it's 18 days away!! Remind him that he's still a day behind!) So today I'm going to share one of my most favorite Christmas songs! (of course they are all my favorite... ;)) It is "Pat a Pan" by David Archuleta!!!!! I love this song and how he sings it, it's so fast and exciting!!! :) I hope you like it as much as I do! 

I'm dreaming today...

Today I'm dreaming of mountains. I've always loved mountains and have wanted to live in them for a few years now. They are just so big and majestic!!!! They make you realize how small you really are and how great and powerful God is! 

Isn't it just beautiful???

Breathtaking!!!!!

I want to go there!

"How Majestic is Your Name Oh LORD in all the Earth!" 

Anyway, I just love mountains and I wish I was there! :) 

Bugler's Holiday

Today I'm going to share a Christmas song with you all!!!! The song is none other than Bugler's Holiday!!! 

This song has very special meaning to me and my family. Our first violin teacher had an arrangement of this for three violins and piano and every Christmas we would play it!!! It was always so much fun! I have amazing memories of rehearsing and performing it with everyone there! Then after we moved we discovered the original (with three trumpets and orchestra) and I love it even more now that I've heard it!!!!! Every time I listen to it I just start smiling because it's so cheerful and happy!!! It is such a catchy tune we (my brother and I) sometimes like to hum it in parts in the car!!! It's so much fun!!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!!!!! 

Dancing

Yesterday I started singing a song and I just had to share it with you all today!

It's so true! I could have danced all night!!!!!! I love this song so much!!!!!

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

I hope everyone had a great holiday! I really enjoyed mine!!!! Today I'm going to share with you one of the most heartbreaking songs ever. This song is Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis By Vaughan Williams. My brother got to play this in Cambridge when he went to England!!!! Isn't that so cool??? He is so fortunate. I would love to play this piece, once I had some friends over (you know who you are) and we were going to sightread this, but we started with Mendelssohn Octet and spent the whole time on that. :) It was still fun, but we now need to have them over again so that we can play this!!!!  Anyway, the music is just wonderful, I love it so much! 

Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving!!! I hope everyone has an amazing day!!!! I know mine is going to be very peaceful and wonderful whilst I spend time with my family!!! Here is my favorite 'Thanksgiving' song ever! :) 

A thought provoking comic

I've been thinking about gossip lately, and I found this comic that made me think. Sometimes gossip isn't started by other people, it's started by you, and they tell someone else and eventually everyone knows. I also read this article that made me realize how dangerous gossip is, since once it's out there, you can't take it back. Words are powerful and once you've said them, they're said, and you can't change that. 

Anyway, today is a great day! My best friend's birthday is today and she is coming over to my house for the weekend!!! I'm so excited!!!! :) Have a great weekend!!!!

Christmas

It's November now, so I think I can officially start listening to Christmas music without all my friends getting mad at me!!! :)  Christmas is my favorite time of the year, I love snow and the happiness that gets on people's faces!!! Remembering God's great gift of love toward us also makes me smile. I love decorating my house with beautiful decorations. We have great memories of setting up the Christmas tree. There is this one CD that we always think of when we set it up, because my mom would always play it while we decorate!!

This year I'm going to hang paper snowflakes from my ceiling! I'm going to have my brother help me and I hope that within the next few weeks my room will become a wonderful winter wonderland!!! :)

Anyway, here'e one of the "most wonderful" Christmas songs ever!!! ;)

Sibelius Symphony 2, 4th movement

One of my favorite symphonies ever is Sibelius's Symphony #2!!! When my siblings and I played Finlandia with our orchestra, the assisting conductor brought in a CD that he'd made for the orchestra to listen to. It had a few movements from various works by Sibelius on it, and after rehearsal he gave it to Michael! It was pretty awesome! Needless to say, we've listened to that CD a lot!! Sibelius is such a good composer, his music can be hauntingly beautiful or triumphantly passionate. I love the fourth movement to the second symphony because it's so passionate and epic! If I ever get to play it I will probably dance around!!!!! I love it so much!!!  

Pumpkin Rolls

Our church had a potluck on Sunday and I decided to try a new recipe!! I was a little hesitant at first because I really don't like it when I try something new and it doesn't work out the way I wanted it to. That was not the case with these however! They turned out wonderfully and everyone loved them!!!! They were all gone, so when we got home and I wanted a snack, I had to find something else to eat!!! (Poor me, I know!) I first had pumpkin rolls when Melissa and I were doing a show and the lady at the table across from us was selling them and she let me have a ton of free samples!!! They were so good! So I decided to make my own, and this is what I came up with!!!                                                    

Pumpkin Rolls

Ingredients

3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F°. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, mix together four, sugar, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in pupmkin puree, eggs, and lemon juice. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Spread mixture evenly.
Bake at 375 F° for 15 minutes.
Lay a damp linen towel on the counter, sprinkle it with confectioners' sugar, and turn the cake onto the towel. Carefully roll the towel up (lengthwise) with the cake in it. Place the cake-in-towel on a cooling rack and let it cool for 20 minutes.
Make the icing: In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and sugar with a wooden spoon or electric mixer.
When the cake has cooled 20 minutes, unroll it and spread icing onto it. Immediately re-roll (not in the towel this time), and wrap it with plastic wrap. Keep the cake refrigerated or freeze it for up to 2 weeks in aluminum foil. Cut the cake in slices just before serving! Enjoy!!!

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto In C minor

This past week, while talking with my awesome brother we started talking about Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 and after talking about it, of course we went and go my CD and started listening to it. I have been listening to it pretty much all the time since!!! It's so good!!! We actually downloaded the music from IMSLP (The best website known to man!) and started learning it. (He was learning the solo part and I learned the accompaniment part, which was awesome because the first 10 measures are rest for me!! :)) We didn't sound very good at all but we had a ton of fun!! Today we're just going to talk about the first movement, but you should listen to the other movements!! (The second movement is amazingly beautiful, it's almost better than Beethoven's fifth piano concerto's second movement!)  That all being said, the first movement is just, wow. It is so passionate and epic. I just love this concerto!!!! I hope you like it too!!!!

I actually listen to a recording of Ashkenazy playing it, and I like it waaaay better, but I couldn't find a good one on YouTube!!! Oh well!!

Jupiter

This week I've been listening to The Planets by Holst this week, and (of course) my favorite one is Jupiter! ;) It's really well written and I just love the melody, it's so passionate!!! It's an outer passion that is just poured out from every instrument. My nieces always know when I get to my favorite part because I just stop everything that I'm doing and just listen. It's so beautiful!!! I love this piece and I really hope that my orchestra actually plays it at our next concert. (Our conductor has been talking about playing it, I hope he actually does.)  If I ever play any of The Planets I will never forget it. Amazing is written all over them, in a word they are, epic. :) 

An Afternoon Visit

On Saturday while Mom and I were making pizza, my brother came downstairs and said "Look out the window!"  I looked up and this is what greeted my eyes:

Cool right? I know, it was amazing! We all went out and it got really close to our house and I got some really good pictures!! It was so cool to see it so close!

(I told you I got some really good pictures ;)) It was beautiful, and as my mom said "If you are going to have a hot air balloon, it might as well be bright!" :)  

Snow

I love snow!!!! I always have, and since we moved up north we've gotten a little more snow than we used to!! (Most of my family doesn't not consider that as one of the advantages of our move up here, but my brother and I do! ;))  I love the peacefulness that you feel when you go outside after it's snowed. Everything is sparkly white and it's just beautiful!!!! I love curling up on the big green chair with a cup of tea, a good book, and my favorite cloak and looking out at the snow as it slowly meanders to the ground. :)  I can't wait until I look out the window and see this: 

Pumpkin

Tonight I'm dreaming of Pumpkins... :)

Actually I'm just thinking of all the deliciousness that can come from a pumpkin. Things like pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin rolls!!! (and other such pumpkin yumminess!)  Since it is fall, and the pumpkins are in abundance we ought to use them, right??? I'm going to use one of our pumpkins from the garden and make pumpkin rolls in the next week or so. What's your favorite pumpkin dish???

The Black Gate Opens

This evening was a great evening for me!!! I had an orchestra rehearsal that was really, really fun, and then I got to listen to epic music while talking to my brother on the way home!! (It was all fine and dandy until we got home, and everyone had been responsible and actually locked all the doors... :P) Buuuut the epic music that we listened to was The Lord of the Rings Return of the King soundtrack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were times where we'd stop talking and turn the music up because it's so good! (Then after that part was over we'd pick up our conversation where it left off...) One piece from the soundtrack brings tears to my eyes everytime I listen to it, and that is "The Black Gate Opens". It's so good!!! Howard Shore is a genius! I love how at the end he puts in the theme from "Into The West" and has the french horns play it!!! It's just so epicly beautifully heartbreaking!!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!! 

My Weekend

This post is to tell you all why I'm not writing a longer post. This weekend, for me, is going to be me + my violin + my metronome. :) I hope it's not going to be too aggravating, and hopefully I'll still be sane tomorrow! :) I also made two loaves of zucchini bread, and will be making two more later. I've been busy! I may even find time today to write program notes for my next orchestra concert! Boy, won't that be fun? ha ha! Anyway, I'd better get busy!!!
Here is an epic song for your weekend!!!!

Apple Squares

Last week we had company over and my mom again asked me to make a dessert. (Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE making desserts??) Since it is fall I decided to use some of our many apples and make a very yummy dessert called Apple Squares.  (or as my niece and I call them, 'Monkey Brain Casserole', she actually believed me for a little while!!! :D) Everybody loves them and they are so easy to make!! I top them with a delicious cream cheese frosting, which makes them amazing! Without further ado here is the recipe: 

Apple Squares

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder 
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped apple 
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional, I never use them) 
2 Tablespoons white sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x9 inch pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon; set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup of white sugar with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in egg and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture until just combined, then stir in the apples and walnuts. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the remaining cinnamon and sugar; sprinkle over the top of the bars. 

3. Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven; finished bars should spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan, and cut into squares. 

(This recipe easily doubles, and it is generally better to put in more apples than called for.) 

The Incredibles

A week or two ago my family watched The Incredibles! It'd been a while since I'd seen it, and I'd forgotten how good it was!!! It's funny, it almost made me cry (ok, not almost, it made me cry), it had cool action scenes, and Mrs. Incredible/Elastigirl/Helen Parr has the best superpower ever! (I want it... :))  It's well made and the soundtrack is amazing!!! I just love the movie as a whole. If you haven't seen it, you need to, and if you have seen it you need to watch it again!   Here's one of my many favorite tracks from the soundtrack!!! (You should also find 100 Mile Dash) :D 

Fall!!!

I love fall!! I have for as long as I can remember. I love the colors, the crisp air, the leaves, the apple cider, the apple sauce, the sweaters, the Christmas music, the fire in the fireplace, the dark clouds, the marigolds, the shoes ;), and especially the pumpkins!!! :) This afternoon I had a great desire to rake up a pile of leaves and jump in them. Sadly, however, not only did I not have the time, but I also didn't have that many leaves. Maybe some other day I'll get to do that!!! 

It's been fall for a while and we just last week got pictures of all the colors!!!! Now I'm going to share with you a few pictures of fall that we took from our decks!!! 

I also (yesterday morning) took a few pictures of the sunrise that I'm going to share as well!!

Here is a very epic piece, but not very fall-like. However, it's really good!!

Love Story Meets Viva La Vida

Tonight, I'm going to share my favorite Piano Guys song!! It's one that isn't on their main channel, in fact I think it was made before they were 'officially' the Piano Guys. I'm not sure why, but every time I listen to it I find myself singing and dancing around!! I just love this piece!!! The thing I love most about it is the transition from one piece to the other!!! I find it very funny that I just love this arrangement and I can't stand to listen to the originals... :) The Piano Guys just have that gift, they make some songs worth listening to. This is the one that they have the best singing in!! They only sing in a few of their videos, but this is definitely the best!! I just love it!!! 

Shoes!!!

Yes, that's what I said. Shoes! I'm a girl, I'm supposed to like shoes right?? It's just a part of our lives?? Right??? Whatever, I love shoes!!! (and so does my adorable niece!!!) :) My sister and I have both worn our favorite shoes when we weren't feeling well, and it helped us feel better! Shoes must have some magical powers. ;) ha ha 

I've gone through phases with my shoes, the past year and a half, I've been into heels and wedges. I don't wear high heels, the highest I have are about 3 inches. However, my sister and best friend LOVE flats, which I don't get because both of them are really, really short. (I'm not much taller though, so I have no room to speak. ;)) This year, I found myself really wanted a pair of flats! I couldn't figure it out, I pulled out my favorite shoes (with a three inch heel) and I didn't feel like I wanted that much heel, but I didn't have a pair of flats worth wearing in my closet!!!! Tragedy!!! Buuut, just the other day, my mom and I went shopping and I found the most adorable pair of flats!!! Look!!!

 Aren't they just adorable??? I love them so much!!! They are my new favorite shoes! My sister liked them so much, she wants to go get herself some... ;) That should tell you how cute these shoes are!!! ;) All things considered, these new shoes made my week!!

Now, I must prepare for an amazing trip to see the awesomest people on earth!!!! Here's the "I like my shoes" Sonata!! (Aka, Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 10 by Beethoven.)   

Brownies

Last Friday we had company over and my mom asked me to make a dessert. (In case you were wondering, I LOVE baking and making yummy goodies!!! :) :) So since my sister-in-law begged me to make brownies, how could I resist?? ;) They turned out great, and everybody loved them!!!!

    

                                                                                                                                   
             Stephanie's Brownies

1 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1 stick softened butter or margarine
5 T. coco
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. walnuts (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease square 8x8 baking dish. Beat all ingredients 50 times -- add nuts 10 times. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Optional topping: as soon as brownies come out of the oven, spread with semi-sweet chocolate chips and let them melt until you can easily spread them with a knife. Let cool and enjoy!

(The picture isn't actually of the brownies that I made, I just found a picture and used it. The brownies that I made were eaten too quickly for me to get a picture of them!!!)

Sibelius Violin Concerto

As I promised last week, today we're going to take a look at the Sibelius Violin Concerto. My brother played this concerto a few years ago and I just fell in love with it. During one of his lessons while he was learning it his teacher was telling him to play the opening mysteriously. Then she played it for him, and I've just loved it ever since. Someday I hope to learn it.

 The first movement starts with this beautiful (mysterious ;)) melody. It's beautiful, enchanting, amazing, passionate, and epic all in one!!! It's sooo hard (Suicide in the form of sheet music, to be precise, as a friend of mine said), but it's totally worth all the hours of practice that it takes to be able to learn it. The ending is actually very intense and brings the listener to the edge of their seats. :)

The second movement is beautiful. I heard Benjamin Beilman play it a few years ago and I cried, a lot. It creates a bottled up passion in me that brings tears to my eyes. Joshua Bell plays it amazingly well, as well. (but who's surprised, it's Joshua Bell...)

The third movement is... hard??? Ha ha. It's really hard to get a good fingering for it. When we met Ben Beilman at IVCI and my brother told Mr. Beilman that he was learning the Sibelius Mr. Beilman asked him if he had a good fingering. :) That made me smile. Of course my brother's wasn't any better than Mr. Beilman's but, still, that just shows how insane the last movement is!!

I will leave you with Mr. Beilman's YouTube recording of the last movement, but I highly recommend you listen to the rest of Mr. Beilman's recording on YouTube.

A Few Quotes: Part 2

So today I'm continuing last Friday's post and I'll be giving you a few more quotes that I love!!! Most of these are from movies, but a few are from books and real life. 

“You cant be late until you show up”

"A good teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." --Thomas Carruthers

"No more ryhming now and I mean it!"
"Anybody want a peanut?" -- The Princess Bride 

"When all is said and done, more is said than done." 

"At any given moment, you are older than you have ever been." -- Michael Bechtel

"...if you are already treading water, it doesn't matter how deep the water is..." -- Michael Bechtel

"Are you so unobservant as not to have found out that sanity and happiness are an impossible combination?" -- Mark Twain

"The trouble with jogging is that by the time you realize your not in shape for it, it's too far to walk back."

"OK! No problem!" ... snap ... "PROBLEM!!!" -- Babar

"Talent only takes you so far..." - R. M.

"It's unfortunate that a hug doesn't solve all of life's problems." - R.M.

"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." -- The Princess Bride

"Everyone has the ability of making someone happy, some by entering the room, others by leaving it." 


"You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles." -- The Princess Bride

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" -- Dr. Seuss

"Whatever you are, be a good one." -- Abraham Lincoln 

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." -- The Princess Bride

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child." -- Dr. Suess

"What day is it?"

"It's today."

"My favorite day." -- Whinnie the Pooh

"Hold it, hold it. What is this? Are you trying to trick me? Where's the sports? Is this a kissing book?" -- The Princess Bride

"You know your in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." Dr. Suess 

"We are all a little weird and life's a little wierd, and when we find someone whos weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in a mutual weirdness and call it love." Dr. Suess 

Well, that's all for now!!! However, I know I could come up with a billion more. :) So here's some Piazzolla to make your day better!! :) 

Orchestra

So on Monday night I had an orchestra rehearsal. It started out with an awesome car ride with my brother and two awesome friends! It's so nice to talk to people who know your language. :) So after that awesome car ride we arrived at orchestra and we were pretty much 15 minutes early. So we sat around talking and playing spoons (or rather knives). Since there were only three of us that got rather boring rather quickly. So we watched Rebekah play solitaire and gave her all the best advice we knew how. Shortly after that rehearsal started.  We started with the Strauss Lightning and Thunder Polka.  That went pretty well, we actually legitimately made it through the piece and then we spot checked. After that we played the Bach piece, which was incredibly out of tune and at some parts sounded pretty awful. Then we played Roman Carnival Overture by H. Beriloz, ha ha, that was pretty terrible. Mr. Cibor (our conductor) worked very patiently with us, but we could all tell that he was getting frustrated. He told us that our playing was unacceptable. There was this really funny incident when all the seconds played a 'c' natural instead of a 'c' sharp, but the Mr. Cibor got mad and it wasn't funny anymore.  The best part of Monday night had to be the ride home!!!!  :D :D We had to drive my dad's Honda which isn't very big, believe it or not, short as I am, there wasn't enough room behind my dad's seat for my knees. :) However, Bekah and I talked the ENTIRE way home, and it was the bestest. It was the perfectest ending to my Monday night!!! 

So I will leave you with one of the pieces I just talked about: Roman Carnival Overture by H. Berlioz.

Prokofiev Violin Concerto #1

So today I'm going to tell you all about one of my most favoritest violin concertos!!! It is: Prokofiev Violin concerto No.1 in D, Op.19!!! It's really really amazing!!!! The first time I heard it was when my brother was told that he needed to learn a romantic concerto. He got many different recordings of many different concertos and it was a ton of fun listening to the different ones. (He ended up learning the Sibelius violin concerto, maybe I'll have to talk about that one next week!! :)) However I didn't like it when we were listening to it in the car!!! I can't believe it!! Later on though I was listening to it and I just fell in love with it!!! I listened to it every single day for a few months!!!  :) I don't do that so much anymore but I still love the concerto!!!

The first movement is awesome!!! Having some very melodious sections, it is in some ways epic, but it's a different kind of epic compared to the Mendelssohn Octet.  It has this amazing part in the middle of it where the soloist plucks a four note chord for 4 or so measures!!! There's also this one part where it's just glissando octaves!!! It's amazing!!!!!

Now the second movement... ahh!! I love this movement! I don't know why though! It has some really awesome parts that make me think "I want to play that!!!!" It's just really intense and amazing. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have a good ending. It just goes up and ends. Other than that it's just awesome!

The third movement, which starts with a bassoon solo, is pretty cool as well. It has it's epic moments, but like the first movement it just kind of ends. You think "Oh. That was it? That was the end? Ok."  In spite of all that it's still cool, and I hope someday to learn it!!

It's just plain awesome and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!!!