music hour, nathalie's restaurant, and times square at night

it was another beautiful day and after picking up a bag of gifts from our friends who had seen morgana, greg and i went to third street for chanda's music hour.

i was going to put the movie up, but supposedly it's too big of a file to upload onto the blog. i then tried sharing it onto youtube, but my account isn't letting me sign in from the home computer. i'll have to ask greg for help when he gets back.

(it's now the middle of july and i finally got it posted . . funny how things can suddenly work out once a little time goes by. i have no idea what i did differently from when i tried in march.)

 greg and i had dinner uptown at a friend's restaurant. she has a special pasta chef so the pasta was amazing (greg had strazzopreti with broccoli rabe and sausage, and i had pappardelle with mushrooms and green beans in a cream sauce). for dessert we had the sorbetto.

 the coffee was also . . superb!

 the restaurant is decorated beautifully. behind me, on the wall, is a fresco based on an italian painting from the renaissance. you can read about the artist and his work, and about the restaurant itself, here. (oh dear, actually i can't find information about the artist on the website . . she has it only in the menu at the restaurant . . i suppose i will suggest to her that it would be good to put up online!)

 chanda is at a birthday party that is ending late, so greg waited for her (at barnes and noble's) while i went home . . i ended up walking downtown . . through times square. i haven't been through times square at night in a long time.

it's pretty wild!

music hour and venieros

 chanda had a music hour today at third street.

 afterwards we went with greg to venieros . . 

 for pastry and coffee . . 

 it was surprisingly very crowded and we had to wait on line for ten minutes.

 at home after dinner we played bananagrams . . 

 greg's winning hand . . 

 fixing up a few words . . 

a bit of saturday . .

veniero's and another music hour

chanda has been working on a very difficult piece of music called "cavatina" by joachim raff.

the nicest part about having a music hour today was that we visited veniero's. we haven't been in awhile.

this piece is a work in progress . .

music hour and a dance rehearsal

 chanda had a music hour this afternoon at third street. she played vivaldi's concerto in g minor.

(i think this must be the longest movie i've uploaded! i know it's the longest song she's played for music hour . . it's a full five minutes . . the movie is three minutes and thirty five seconds).

 morgana shared rehearsal space with our friend isabella today at dance theatre workshop. they're both preparing for ellen's family matters dance concert next weekend, the 26th and 27th.

we had leftover soup and pasta this evening for dinner. it's nice having leftovers . .

music hour!

today at 2:30 chanda performed with jose in third street's music hour. it went well. it wasn't perfect, but it was beautiful. i think chanda was pleased that it was over with! she was a bit disgruntled because she messed up . . somewhere. i'm not sure where. she knew, and morgana knew . . but . . i didn't know and neither did greg. we just thought it was wonderful.

the next song she performs at a music hour (march 10th) is gavotte . . sorry. can't remember the composer. but it's a bit less complicated than the bach piece, so she feels more relaxed about it.

greg and i had the evening to ourselves! the girls all were sleeping over at friends' houses. we went out to dinner at an italian restaurant (quinto quarto on bedford street) and then walked by po restaurant on cornelia street which is the old cafe cino space. it's nice to see a plaque up on the building. we were on our way to a new cafe greg likes, but it was a bit busy with the after hours crowd, so we went home . . tired old geezers that we were.

a rainy day music hour

after korrina's morning knitting class, chanda and i were late leaving for music hour, so we hopped in a cab. it was also rather wet and rainy . . walking a half hour in the rain to music hour didn't sound like fun, so a cab ride was in order. we were lucky to get one. usually when it's raining, there are no available cabs.

music hour is normally held in the auditorium on saturdays, but they held a special extra music hour on wednesday this week. we were fortunate that they did, as we went to nana's last saturday, and chanda has a patrelle rehearsal this saturday. as you can see, it was a very intimate music hour!

i decided to film this music hour since she was working on specific technical details. she's going to continue practicing the piece and play it again for her recital. it's the first time she's performed in a music hour where she hasn't worked on presenting what the song means to her emotionally. she ran out of practice time. i knew she was just hoping she wouldn't get stuck in the middle. she played concerto in a minor, third movement, by vivaldi.

on the way home, we passed this pretty daffodil. everything is growing and beginning to bloom.

but of course everything looks like this now! (writing on thursday morning for wednesday evening). more snow and more cold! winter is hanging on.

saturday music hour and a spaghetti dinner

it was so cold today. chanda and i got a ride with greg to third street in the morning since there was a dairy order to pick up, but we had to walk home.

chanda had music hour today. she played concerto #5 by frederick seitz.

while i made dinner (spaghetti and meatballs, this evening), morgana worked on her note reading and xena kept wishing for the refrigerator door to open.

korrina's friends, james and tyler, ate dinner with us tonight.

it looks so cold out! we're supposed to get more snow maybe on monday or tuesday.

saturday music hour

chanda had music hour today, after group class and orchestra rehearsal. she has been working on "concerto for A minor, 1st movement" by vivaldi, for months now. she hasn't even wanted to work on the next piece in the suzuki book as she said it was "too distracting." this is a first for her. for the past five years, she has consistently worked on a piece while preparing for the next piece by listening and working on it in sections. i think it is a testimony to how difficult this movement has been for her, and how far she has come to even be working on such an advanced piece.

she played beautifully, though she will be the first to tell you about the things she needs to work on! (i'm always torn between recording her piece, and just sitting and listening. performance is so ephemeral, yet incredibly moving and intense. the recording can never do justice to the reality. the beauty of performing is in the moment. i always feel better for choosing the moment. i am aware, however, that many students record their pieces to study them and improve their performances. fortunately, or unfortunately, we've never been enthusiastic about working in that manner. perhaps, in the future she may choose to. for now . . i cherish simply sitting and listening . . though i like to get in a quick photo as a memento!)

lullaby for uncle bill

here is c waiting for another music hour to begin. she played a lullaby today and dedicated it to uncle bill, since he is presently in the hospital. we all hope he's feeling better soon and can return home.