Musicville

Sophie's school musical was this past weekend and she was marvelous as the villain! 

The show was Musicville and each character was musical notation or the embodiment of some piece of music theory. There were characters named Counterpoint and Syncopation and Forte. Sophie played the Sorcerer of Silence, a whole rest who wants the constant music to stop. (Yes, the irony of Sophie playing someone who thinks music is awful noise was not lost on us.) She poisons the water to take away each persons voice. The two heroes go on a quest to undo her magic. It was kind of The Little Mermaid meets The Wizard of Oz, with music theory.

Sophie owned the stage whenever she was on it! She had fantastic presence and wonderful song and line delivery.

All of her Young Women leaders came to see her on opening night! They brought their kids with them, hence Sophie's crowd of fans.

We were there to support her on opening night as well. Peter stayed home sick, but he was able to see her in her second performance as the Sorcerer.

The show is always double cast. She played the villain for two performances and was in the chorus as a townsperson and a tangero (the inhabitants of the part of Musicville where they love Tango) for the other two.

More sweet friends, from church and our children's choir, came to see her second night as a lead.

She got to hang out with castmates at Applebee's after one of the shows. This is a great group of girls.

Here she is in tangero mode during her final show.

After the last show, the kids were invited to come take pictures onstage. 

The whole cast did a great job! And, of course, Sophie was my favorite person on that stage!

Well done, Sophie!

Run, Run Rudolph

While I was off performing and shuttling kids, Bryan and Cooper were at the track meet. Bryan estimates there were at least twenty schools that participated and Cooper said there were individual runners that weren't associated with any schools there as well. Cooper competed in the mile.

He finished his race in five minutes and sixteen seconds and got second place in his heat! He ended up placing twelfth overall, which I think is amazing! He's improved quite a bit from when he ran track in the spring. Plus, after running 5Ks in cross country all fall, a mile seemed pretty easy.

All the Choir Music

Cooper and Phoebe both auditioned for select choirs at the high school for next year.

And they both got in!

Cooper is in a combined SSAATTBB choir  as a Bass 1 and Phoebe is in an SSAA choir as an Alto 2. She's one of three incoming freshman that made it in. They're both excited to have additional musical learning opportunities next year. I'm thrilled that they both had the courage to tryout.

It's Time to Be the Hero

Have you heard of Maycember? It's a phenomenon that exists in our household. May, much like December, is full of end of the year (school year) activities, including concerts.

For the final concert of the year, the middle school chorus joins with the high school chorus. This was nice for us because it combined two concerts into one: Cooper sang with the high school concert choir and Phoebe sang with the middle school chorus.

Phoebe served as the chorus vice-president this year. That means she got to help announce the songs her choir performed. They also presented their director with a bouquet of flowers.

They sounded great. I especially loved when they sang "Homeward Bound."

The concert choir had an awesome entrance through the audience. Cooper is the eighth person in this line walking up to the stage.

This is a large choir and they sounded wonderful!

Towards the end of the evening, the directors handed out awards. Phoebe was one of two middle schoolers to be given an award. She earned it for her leadership and service to the choir. When her name was called she was surprised and kind of flustered. She looked at me and asked if she should go up to the stage. I said yes and she went up and received her award.

And then she prepared to sing her solo! The middle school and high school choirs joined forces and sang "Hero" by a composer who goes by the handle Pinkzebra. One soloist from each school was picked to open the song and Phoebe was floored when she got the solo! She sounded lovely!

At this point after the concert, Cooper and Sophie were both off with friends, otherwise they would have been in this picture too.

It was a long (at least two hours) but wonderful concert. I am so thankful that we live in a school district that values musical education so highly. And I love that my kids get to contribute to that music!

Honorable

This year Phoebe applied to and was accepted into the National Junior Honor Society. She's required to keep her grades high and complete many hours of community service to maintain her membership. The induction ceremony was last week. She was given the opportunity to read a short statement about one of the organization's foundational principles: service. I took pictures, but I was dodging a photobombing Topher the whole time, so none of them really turned out. You'll just have to trust me that she was poised and articulate and did a wonderful job.

Well done, Phoebe!

Spell It Out

Remember when Phoebe won her school-wide spelling bee? Well, that qualified her for the next level of spelling tests. That happened to be an online test. She scored in the top seventy and moved on again. On Sunday she participated in the regional spelling bee. I took everyone else to church while Bryan and Phoebe drove over an hour to the event.

Bryan texted a play-by-play of the action to the group chat we have with the three older kids (the ones with phones). I actually had to put my phone on Do Not Disturb during Primary because I was running singing time and I use my phone to keep track of the time. All those exciting spelling updates were too distracting.

They started out with sixty-eight spellers.

Phoebe made it through rounds one, two three, four, and five. After correctly spelling the word lacustrine in round four, the word turgor got her in round five. Fifteen minutes after she was eliminated, the bee was over.

She finished seventh, out of sixty-eight.

We are all so proud of how well she did! She was really happy to make it into the top ten.

When she got home she told me that several of the parents congratulated her afterward for how well she'd done. She suspects it's because she smiled encouragingly at the spellers as they took their turns. Since she was in the front row, the parents and spellers alike could see her. I love that she brought both her wonderful brain and her beautiful heart to the stage.

All the Buzz

Phoebe has had quite a week. After getting her braces off on Monday, she got a really cute haircut on Tuesday.

Then on Wednesday she found out she was being bumped from alternate in the school spelling bee to competitor in the school spelling bee. She spent Wednesday evening studying the word packet. Cooper helped by quizzing her.

Thursday morning I finished dropping the other kids off at school and quickly drove to Phoebe's school to watch her compete. I missed the practice round and the explanation of the rules, but made it in time for Phoebe's first round. I watched as the number of kids dwindled from fourteen to two over several rounds. Phoebe and her friend Leo were the last spellers left. Much to her own surprise, Phoebe won the bee!

I was so happy I decided to come and support her! She did a great job and will now move on to the regional spelling bee.

Well done, Phoebe!

Hope Is a Song

Sophie participated in the Reflections competition this year. The theme was "Hope Is..." She submitted a drawing that was chosen to go on to the Regional level and then the State level. We knew she'd done well, but didn't know how well until we saw the program at the awards ceremony on Friday night. 

This is her piece, Hope Is a Song. If you look closely you can see the song titles that she included. Her artist statement is after the picture.

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but she was nervous to go up and receive her medal and trophy.

Each of the kids had their picture taken with the Principal after they got their awards.

She was happy and relieved when she sat back down.

Great job, Sophie!