She plays the flute and only started at the beginning of this school year. They actually only started playing their actual instruments in October and she already had one concert and last night was her second concert.
She was asked to be in Honors band by her band teacher Ms Shaeffer. So this has meant us getting her to school 30 minutes to an hour early for the last week and a half so they can practice for the concert she had last night.
Megan practices every night so I can hear how well she is improving but I was absolutely blown away last night when I heard the entire Scottsdale South District 5th grade Honor Band play! WOW!
There was 3 different age group playing last night. The 5th graders did 2 songs, the 6th graders did 2 songs, and then the 7th and 8th graders did 2 songs. I was absolutely blown away by all of the bands because they all did an amazing job and played some pretty tough music.
Megan's first band concert was entirely different, as parents we think our kids are perfect, and it was all parents and proud family members at the last concert and I have to be honest it was not the best sounding band. I thought it was good because of how short of time they had all been playing but it in no way could compare to last night.
Then we found something last night that was extraordinary and really touched me and impressed me.....All the band teachers that have been practicing at their many different school spent the entire day yesterday and evening preparing and helping the kids for this concert did it all on their own personal time without ANY pay. They all took the day off with no pay to put on this concert.
This is very amazing and touching to me. In this economy and day and time I am shocked that there are teachers and people out there that are willing to do such a thing so a bunch of school kids can play their band instruments for their parents. That is true dedication and frankly I wish more people were committed to kids and their educations.
We have plenty of politicians that have no problem cutting our school budgets. When are people in this Country going to realize that our kids and their educations are #1 priority and we need to make some serious education reforms and make cutting education budgets unacceptable. I could go on and on about this but I will save it for another time.
So anyways back to the concert here is a picture of the entire 5th grade band but you can't even see my kid.
The concert was held at Coronado High School in South Scottsdale.
The place was packed with a lot of very proud family members.
Megans' Aunt Karen and her Cousin Daniel came to see her performance. Cousin Daniel plays percussion in his high school band and has played percussion probably since the 5th grade. I am hoping that Megan will continue to play all through High School as well.
This is Megan Band teacher Ms. Shaeffer. She is a very dedicated and awesome teacher. She does very well with the kids and took the entire day off without pay yesterday to make this amazing concert happen.
And this is Megan and I from last night.
After the concert we took Megan to her favorite place to celebrate we went to http://www.yogurt-land.com/
Megan absolutely loves to go Yogurt-land and get a couple different flavors of Frozen Yogurt and put on a bunch of the strangest topping combinations.
When I was a kid any time we had a play or something at school or church my mom would always take us out for dinner or ice cream after to celebrate and I wanted to carry on the tradition with Megan.
They announced last night that there is going to be a 3 week Band Camp this summer and that the kids will learn as much in that 3 weeks as they would in an entire year of band at school so I am really going to see what I can do to encourage Megan to go and make it so she can go.
I would love for Megan to continue playing the flute forever. She does a great job at everything she tries and wants to do, and I think it teaches kids great discipline and they say that kids that play a musical instrument do better in school and score higher on the SAT's and a ton of other benefits so why would you not want your kid to play an instrument!
Good Job Megan!! Mommy and Lloyd are VERY proud of you!!!
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