Piano Recital 2013

Shortly after completing the Piano Guild competition, Matt participated in a piano recital. The recital was at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Jamestown - a stunningly gorgeous church downtown. Matt chose three pieces from his guild repertoire to play in the recital.




He did a wonderful job - he missed the ending on his "Colored Lights" song, but recovered beautifully and did very well in front of a large audience. Once the recital was over, the participants received their certificates (or trophies) from the Piano Guild.

Matt was absolutely thrilled and it was wonderful to watch everyone participate. Some of these kids have incredible talent! All of them work very hard and learn a valuable skill.

Once the recital was over, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. June is such a busy month, and we could go back to a normal practice routine now that the Guild and recital were completed.

Piano Guild 2013

In May, young piano players all over the nation compete in the National Piano Guild competition. The players must memorize ten pieces of music and play before a judge - since Matthew was seven and this was his first guild, he was entered in the "elementary A" level. He memorized ten pieces of music - most of them from Edna Mae Burnam's Basic Piano Book (level 2).

We drove up to the State University at Fredonia and he was very excited to play for the judge. I was a nervous wreck.

He went inside the room and we waited outside, listening through the door. He played his major scales and arpeggios as part of his guild. He came out of the room a little while later, and the judge handed his report card to Matt's piano teacher. He scored a Superior Minus, which is the equivalent of an A-.

He received his gold pin for completing a ten piece set. He worked hard all year for this award, and he was very happy to receive it!

We went out to lunch at the Southern Tier Brewing Company in Fredonia - Matt was happy to have lunch with Mom and Dad and a root beer.

We drove home after lunch. Matt was thrilled to have the day off school. We were very proud of our hard-working boy!