It's been a busy holidays in terms of music performances, first with my students' performances at the music school's end of year concert and Shirley and Bobby's (a couple from our church) wedding, then the Auckland Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Concert, as well as caroling at Waitakere Hospital and outside the Chinese grocery shops. Coming up very soon we also have our church's Christmas Eve concert and our cousin's wedding in February!
This year the end-of-year concert at the music school where I teach was slightly earlier this year to avoid students missing out due to them leaving early on holiday. However this meant I had less time to teach and prepare them for the concert! I also had to choose which students would get prizes in three categories: the Musical Excellence trophy for my best student, the Most Improved Student and several Musical Encouragement medals. The rest would get a Merit certificate. Because I had a lot more students this year than last year, I wouldn't be able to give everyone a medal/trophy like I have been in every other year. Two of my students would only be getting a certificate, and I heard one of them wouldn't be coming to the concert, which meant everyone except one girl would be getting a medal! I felt really bad and it bothered me throughout the whole week!
What also bothered me was that a week out from the concert some students were telling me they wanted to play something else while others wanted to do solos and I wasn't 100% comfortable they were ready. I ended up going with what they wanted and just hoped they would do heaps of practice in the week leading up to the concert, and after the concert I think they must've!
On the morning of the concert, I quickly went to buy some lollies before going to school, as I usually treat my students. At the concert, us violins would be performing first, so I had to quickly go to one of the classrooms near the hall where we would warm up to get ready. My students were sitting outside practising, and the boy who I originally thought wouldn't come did in fact come. Actually, all my students showed up!
After all the violin students performed and the flutists were about to perform, I went to the classroom to prepare my students. I tried warning them that not everyone would be getting an award that day just to soften them up and prepare them for the possibility of getting nothing!
It was finally my students' time to perform! They actually performed very well! I also got all their names right unlike last year as well! There was a moment when my advanced students got out of time when I thought we'd have a stuff-up, but they recovered and kept going! I was very proud of them after!
While I was standing at the back of the hall watching the remaining performances, one of the fathers of a violin student came up to me and complimented me, saying I was always smiling! He was also thinking of signing his four-year-old child up for recorder lessons next year, which would make him/her the youngest student I've ever had! That'll be a challenge.
Finally it was prize-giving time! I had a little whisper to the mum of the girl who wasn't getting anything and told her she would be getting her award the following week, and the mum told me that she wouldn't be able to stay anyway because she had Chinese class. Phew!!! The other boy who wasn't going to get anything ended up getting his certificate on stage, but he was the only one who didn't get a medal! I found him afterwards and told him he would be getting something the following week.
It wasn't till two weeks later at the very last lesson of the year that I gave them something. I went down to this local shop that sells and engraves trophies and medals and bought two medals that looked very similar to the ones awarded to the other students. As well as playing to my students the video of them performing, I also presented the medals to the two students, and played a game with one of my classes where they had to guess the notes I played just by listening to them (trying to help them develop perfect pitch!!). I had four prizes: a carrot, an apple, and two of these fancy pens. Note to self: don't have prizes! One of the students almost started crying when his sister won a pen. Luckily I had four pens so I just gave them each a pen and declared everyone a winner. And so I've just contributed to what is wrong with this country :S
Shirley and Bobby, a couple from my church also held their wedding later on the same day as the end-of-year concert at my music school. My brothers and I along with Jireh and Miriam, two other people in our youth group, were asked by Shirley to perform You Raise me Up as a string quartet (with piano) at her wedding as it was one of her favourite songs. We have a connection with Shirley as she has been our Sunday School teacher at one point or another in the past few years.
The wedding was very nice. It was at this old, traditional church in Remuera and the service was almost completely in Cantonese! We performed Jesu, Joy of our Desiring as the bridesmaids walked up the aisle. Everyone then sang a few songs and hymns, including one really nice Cantonese song called 'Unreserved Love'. Shirley and Bobby's fellowship then sang a couple of songs. I hope my youth group will perform at my wedding! haha After that came the typical wedding stuff like the vows, the rings and the big kiss. Then we were on!
We had to repeat a few verses twice so that You Raise Me Up would be long enough to cover the signing process.
Once the ceremony was over, the photos were taken and it was time to move into the big room for the food! There were a few speeches made by the bride and groom before the cutting of the cake. I have to say the food was great! It just kept coming! I got to know Miriam a bit better which was cool because she's a cool person. I discovered a few things about her that I never knew, like she has an older sister who used to go to our church! She still had an exam the day after that weekend, and she was leaving to go back to Taiwan in a couple weeks' time.
As people started to leave, we met up with our church friends Winston, Nadine and their mum and aunty and decided we'd go to One Tree Hill to take a few photos since their aunty was leaving soon...and since we were dressed up nicely at the time!
We went all the way to the top of One Tree Hill to take a few photos, as well as take photos of sheep and lambs on the way up the hill!
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