More Concert Pictures
Here is Erika with the band director, Mr. Wilder, one of her favorite teachers. We believe he is a Christian, and he has been a wonderful influence and friend to her. Jeremiah has a similar close relationship with Mr. Maguda, who is the junior high band director. He is the one who gives Jeremiah tuba lessons and works with him in that area. The chorus director, Mr. Trenchard, is a strong Christian and is the minister at the Methodist church down the road from us.
Jeremiah started on the trombone in his first year at public school (7th grade). The next year, however, Mr. Maguda asked him to switch to tuba as they would be losing all of the tuba players in the high school band who were seniors. At that point he was given a smaller tuba, but it was still bigger than he was. The kids used to goof around and put Jeremiah in the tuba case and close it up and drag it around the house. He certainly wouldn't fit in it now at 5'9"!
Erika started flute lessons while homeschooling in 8th grade. She joined the band when she started public school in 9th grade with only a few months of lessons. The other kids had been playing since 4th grade. She is now playing at a level 6, which is the highest level in the SoloFest ratings. We are very proud of both of them
We hope that Erika will be able to continue to
use and enjoy her flute in a band or orchestra
at Cedarville College or in a local church.
A few months ago, Mr. Wilder began giving her
saxophone lessons as well. She picked that up very quickly as far as the fingering, and already knew how to read music, so she just had to
master the reed. We don't own a saxophone, however, so she won't get any further with that instrument. By the way, Erika has a wind instrument collection. So far, she has an ocarina, a fife, her regular flute, a Swiss recorder, a regular recorder, and a glass flute. With any graduation money she receives, she plans to buy
a Navajo flute.
posted by Dusty Penguin | 8:33 AM
7 Comments:
Jeremiah seems like a tuba kind of guy! I hope Erika can get a Navajo flute. That would be cool. Did you ever watch Mr. Holland's Opus?
Mr. Maguda said he picked Jeremiah for the tuba because he had plenty of wind!! We have seen Mr. Holland's Opus, but it's been a long, long time.
Your Mom and I have always considered a music education as important. We are so pleased with the accomplishments of your kids. These are skills that must be learned when one is young and they are skills that will perhaps get a bit rusty if not used, but will never vanish. We recently met a man in his upper 70's or perhaps even 80 who plays a beautiful alto sax. And he had to sell his sax when he got married and had family obligations and never played again for 40 years! And then bought a new sax and picked up where he left off. He plays in church and plays all the contemporary music right along with the younger members of the band playing guitar, keyboard, and drums. Hey! Pass this along to Dean!
You know, when you guys sold all your stuff to go back to Africa, the only thing I was upset about was the piano! That was certainly an important part of our lives for quite a few years! I'm so thankful you sacrificed so we could have piano lessons, and thankful that we finally found Esther Scoville so we wouldn't hate piano lessons!!
Yeah! She was the only piano teacher I really, really liked. Maybe cuz she was in love with my favorite history teacher!
Being a teacher has its share of challenges and disappointments but whether we know it or not, we've been a good example and an encouragement to someone out there and have made a difference in someone's life. These two public school teachers that your kids have had and also Mr. T the Methodist minister at Napoli, your school has been blessed by teachers who love kids. The principal strikes me as that kind of guy, too. I was so blessed in high school to have had one in particular and several others who took a special interest in me. Blessed are those called to teach and blessed are those who are their students.
Sorry about the piano!
If we could have found a good home for it where we could have left it and then got it back when we came home, we would have. Our inquires for storage place went unheeded. Our present piano while not a Baldwin, is just as good. However, it is hard to beat a Yamaha--they know how to build a piano!
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