Virtual Music

A couple of months ago, Victoria turned in her violin part for the virtual concert orchestra performance for the parents to enjoy. They're finally able to meet in person to play together. Turns out we will have a small concert outside next month. I will get to see all three of my string players perform then! 

Here's Victoria's performance with the concert orchestra:

A month before that, Karissa and Austin finalized their piano performances for Federation, virtually. They had to prerecord in February so they would be ready to be turned in at the beginning of March for the judges to view. We couldn't decide if it was more nerve-wracking to actually perform in front of the judges in person and get only one shot at it, or to record it over and over until it was just the way we wanted to have the judges view it. We had to record a shot of the first piece of music before being played, and then the second piece, without any pauses. That made it really hard! For instance, Austin pulled off the first piece beautifully, but then mess up the second piece and we would have to record both of them all over again! It was totally worth it though. We just got their scores back and they both got superiors, the highest rating. This is Austin's 4th consecutive. He got a trophy after the first 3. Karissa gets her second trophy, this being her 6th consecutive superior! I'm so proud of both of them! They have stuck through it, even though virtual lessons are hard.  They also take the extra orchestra class, which was just an extra virtual class for most of the year, and now they have to wake up super early to do it, yet they still do. One would think having something like music to take your mind off things would be easy, but sometimes it seems like just more work. I'm really glad they were rewarded for their efforts so they can see what talent they have if they stick to it!!

A special treat from the orchestra are these sweatshirts that Mrs. DePentu, the lead teacher, gifted to the high schoolers. She had a student design it, but it was inspired by the Mercado family's very own Hammy! 

Back story: last year, when Karissa started with Mrs. DePentu (Mrs. Kaz is the 6th-grade teacher, but Mrs. D teaches the 7th and 8th graders and high schoolers), she was telling the students to hold the neck of their violin/viola like there was a hamster in their hand and they don't want to squish it. Karissa told her that she has a stuffed hamster (about the same size as a real one) and that she could bring it in as a visual. Well, now Hammy is super famous among the orchestra kids and became their class pet/mascot. One student made him his own cello with cardboard, using a 3D template (it looks really cool!) and a bed. Karissa had Hammy at home for most of this time during this school year when we were online. When she finally brought him back to school a month or so ago, everyone was so excited and they used him as the inspiration for their sweatshirts! Since only the high schoolers actually get the sweatshirts (provided by Mrs. D, though the rest get music t-shirts), Karissa will be the only middle schooler to get one, since it's her Hammy. I'm not sure why other middle schoolers aren't given the option to purchase one for themselves, but I'm so happy for her generosity that they all got something from her. 

Victoria just got hers. Karissa should be getting hers soon. 

Don't know why it won't turn for me in my last-minute close-up shot. It says, "We survived a pandemic and all we got was a shirt!" Hammy has his face mask and a little tear in his eye- so sweet!