Something just for me.

Yesterday I had a rare day all for myself and just for fun.  For the first time in about 20 years I played the viola in an ensemble and it's only in the last couple of months that I've played it at all in almost as long.  A friend, J (another HE mum) told me about Blow the Dust Off and I thought it sounded good, so signed up and in anticipation got my viola out of its case for the first time in a very long time.

I really enjoyed the day, finding that, although I played plenty of bum notes, lots of other people did too, but we ended up making a pretty good sound.  We started off with a string and double reed (oboes and bassoons for those not in the know) ensemble, playing a variety of stuff including The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (which I know I have played before at some point).  Then with just the strings, we had a go at this (not this fast and definitely not this well though!) among other things.  After lunch we split up into a quartet and an 'octet plus' (which turned out to be two each of first and second violins, three violas and five cellos, so a little bottom heavy).  Then we got back together for a final practice of the pieces which we were going to perform in the concert (for family and friends) at the end of the day.  Meanwhile there had been plenty going on for the wind instruments (and some percussion), with a swing band, a clarinet group, a flute group and a recorder group, which boasted a great bass recorder as well as a bass one.

I had been expecting K & M to turn up for the concert with Ay, who was going to be childsitting (they're not babies!) and then bringing them on the bus, as A was going to be playing cricket.  So I was quite surprised to see them arrive with him instead.  His cricket had been cancelled before he left the house, so he had let Ay know, although she did still come over and play with the girls for a while, enabling him to get some work done.  They rather enjoyed the concert, which was really rather varied as you might expect with the different combinations of instruments in the various groups.  K did stick her fingers in her ears for the final piece, which was the theme to Hawaii 5O, played very loudly, but not because she didn't like it, just found it too loud.

It was also an opportunity to see and talk about musical instruments that K & M wouldn't have come across before, such as the bassoon among others, as well as them seeing what enjoyment there is to be had from playing music in a group like this.  Playing in an orchestra was a big part of my childhood and it's one of the few things that is not easy to arrange when HEing.  Both K & M enjoy their piano lessons (even if they don't practice very much!), but neither plays any other instrument at the moment.  I'm hoping that this experience will at least get them thinking about whether they might like to at least try out something else alongside the piano.

So while I was out all day, among other things K & M had had a go with M's new card games that she'd received for her birthday; Monopoly Deal, which works really well (A said he thought it was the best of the card game versions of board games that we've got and after one go myself, I'm inclined to agree) and Pit (which A remembers playing as a child when visiting an elderly couple who were friends of his parents).