Shave and a hair cut....

Mrs King, Wes & Van

With spring comes the inevitable spring piano recital.  This year was special because it was Wesley's first performance.  At last year's recital, after Van had done his piece, Wes leaned over to me and whispered, "Mom, I want to do this next year.  Can I do this next year?"  We had been waiting until 1st grade to start him on piano so he had a firm grasp of all his numbers and letters, but he was ready.

Throughout the school year he'd been going to weekly lessons with Van.  Wes had burned through his first set of books and was almost finished with his second when it came time to decide on a recital piece.  He was doing so well, in fact, Mrs King helped him with not only a solo piece but THREE versions of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for his duet piece!


Both boys had chosen their songs carefully with Mrs King, and had been practicing like mad.  It was time.  Wesley opened up the evening with Gallop, Pony as his solo piece and the Mrs King joined him for Twinkle, Twinkle.  He was so proud and excited to be done he forgot his books on the piano when he returned to his seat.  Van closed the evening with a solo piece titled Dragon Hunt, and a duet of Shave and a Hair Cut.  Both his pieces required some good finger work, as you can see, and he totally nailed both of 'em!  Van really did work very hard to get the tempo and timing right on these songs. He was so siked at the end he forgot to bow (they are supposed to bow at the end of the performance, then return to their seats with their books).

Our friends, The Bayons, also go to Mrs King.  Their son, Brody (same age as Van), did an amazing job that evening as well.  He chose Russian Sailor Dance from his lesson books, but also chose Whistle While You Work from his Disney book.  It was a challenging song, but he rose to the occasion and did a spectacular job!

Josh and I are just so, so proud of both Wes and Van and the progress they've made this year in their practice!  Yes, there were nights where no one wanted to practice.  There were lessons that one or both of the boys just didn't want to be at.  But in the end they both shined, as we knew they would.

Brody, Wes & Van