The week of the recorder

Warning: this post has insufficient photos!

A few weeks ago we had the week of the recorder.

First, Nathaniel (along with any other child who could play an instrument), was invited to play to his class. I was pleased to see that he was excited about this prospect and had no hint of stage fright. He played A Tiny Forest Bird and enjoyed the experience greatly.

As a result of his playing (I understand that he was the only kid who actually managed to exhibit both the organisation to remember to bring an instrument and the skill to play it), he was named Star of the Week, and we were invited to attend assembly to watch him talk to Mr Knowles about it and receive his certificate. But, to my amazement, he was also persuaded into playing to the school! So off he went again, and played A Tiny Forest Bird to the lot of them!

Amusingly, he did this with no hint of nerves. Trust him to be the kid who torments me during practice by stuttering over notes, over blowing irregularly and generally making a bit of a racket, and then given an audience plays fluently, musically, technically flawlessly and with gorgeous tone! What a useful skill!

Meanwhile, in his recorder lesson, Nathaniel managed to play with such aplomb, that his teacher awarded him the Carrot Award (a giant cuddly toy), for excellent practice.

So definitely, the week of the recorder.

Then this last weekend was the termly recorder concert. Nathaniel played a solo of One Bird and at the last minute took over One Egg from a child who chickened out. Easy notes, but I was really proud of him for playing on his own considering that in previous concerts he has either declined the opportunity to play or only played with me accompanying him. Not bad at all!

The rehearsal (just after N's solo):