Christmas Performances

Caleb had a very very busy Christmas season of performing this year. He was asked to play in 3 church Christmas programs, and once at another church. Besides that, he played at Maceys several times, his Great Grandma's nursing home, and he had a piano recital at a fancy house up behind the capitol building.

It wasn't always fun though. One important day where he had 2 performances scheduled, Caleb got really really sick and so missed his church Christmas program, but still made it to his recital that night although he felt really awful. He threw up just a half hour before his recital, but he still played. It turned out alright, although he wasn't well. Just think of how much better he can play when he is feeling good!

Here is a video from his recital performance:



He played an old Christmas favorite for a stake Christmas program. Here he is at home running through the piece:



He did get to reschedule his piano number to the day after Christmas to play in church since he was sick for the Christmas program. They were very nice to do that for him. He also played it in his aunt's church earlier in the month.

Here he plays an arrangement of Silent Night:



This year Caleb has teamed up with his brother who plays guitar.


They played a little duet of "What Child is This" for a Christmas program dinner. Here is a video of them practicing at home:



Then, of course, he can't miss playing at Maceys. They didn't have a nice grand piano this year to play on, but he made do with what they had. His brother came along as well for a few numbers.

The piano wasn't very big, and not very loud, but he did manage to play alright. Here's a fun new song he learned that he played called "Linus and Lucy" otherwise knows as "the Snoopy Song".



Caleb had an awesome Christmas season and loved performing! Now for a bit of a break. There aren't any performances, competitions, or recitals for a while. Just time to practice practice practice!

Caleb Plays in Church

Recently, Caleb played the piano in church for all of the congregation. He played a song arranged by composer Aaron Waite entitled "Be Still My Soul". He did a great job.
Here is a little video of him playing just one verse and the 2nd ending at home:

Piano Evaluations and UMTA's Honors Recital

Caleb participated in the Utah Music Teacher's Associations Piano Evaluations in October. It is where students play one or two songs and get evaluated by a couple of judges to get some performance feedback.

Caleb loves doing this. He participated last year where he received his very first certificate with a gold seal on it to hang on his wall. Of course he got another one this year!

It is not a competition, however the judges will pick about 70 kids out of Utah who they think are the best to perform at that year's annual conference.

This year, they chose Caleb!

How excited he was that he was going to get to perform. It was going to be held at a big University in November. Caleb played 2 songs at Piano Evaluations, but they only wanted one song to be played at their performance and they chose his ever so practiced Sonatina 3 by Clementi.

We made the trip up to Weber State University for Caleb to perform.

Caleb loved that it had a big map to tell you where to go.

He also loved the giant statues. Here he poses with one of his sisters and his brother who were good sports to come along and support him.

He got to play in a ballroom with a fancy piano on stage. He says the piano bench was particularly heavy that he was trying to scoot up. Here is his performance:



He played with about 12 other kids, of course Caleb always seems to be that littlest one compared to all the others.

And, how exciting for him that he gets another gold seal certificate!!! This time it is for Outstanding Solo Performance!

Congrats to Caleb!

Fall Piano Recital and Duets

Caleb performed in his fall piano recital this week. He played Knight Rupert by Schumann for his solo piece:



And then for the first time he played in some piano duets with another student. Poor Caleb had bad allergies that night and so you can see him during the last song struggling not to sneeze. It's kind of funny, but he held it in and it didn't affect his playing!

Caleb Plays the Grand Plexiglass Piano at the Fancy Restaurant--A Dream Come True

There is a very fancy restaurant here that is set on the very top floor of a building which over looks all of downtown. It is very nice and is home to a very fancy plexiglass piano, which is like a regular grand piano, but the whole top part is transparent glass. A few years ago, Caleb's parents went there for their anniversary. When Caleb saw pictures of this piano and heard about how people would play this grand piano as their job and get paid for it, he was so excited.

From that day on Caleb has talked about how much he wanted to go work at this restaurant when he grew up and how he would get to play on their big fancy see through piano.
Caleb dreamed of working playing the piano to pay for his college at the University School of Music.

We just kept telling him to keep practicing and maybe someday he could do that.

Well, for Caleb's 8th birthday, he got a very happy surprise.

The very nice people at the restaurant agreed to let Caleb come and play their big piano! How happy and proud he was to go in there and play all his fun songs on the see through piano. He absolutely loved it!

He played about 10 different songs; Everything I Do, Piano Man, Goodnight Lullabye, Listen to Your Heart, Only Hope, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Hallelujah, Be Still My Soul, Silent Night, and then he finished with a grand finale of his Sonatina.


It was so cute to look over and see this little boy on this huge piano!


The restaurant workers were so nice! They sang him Happy Birthday and gave him a little treat. Caleb did so well. He almost looked natural sitting there on that big fancy piano.

Here are some little video bits from his night:



He did have some challenges turning pages and keeping his books to stay open:



It was a big piano, and the bench was also made out of this plexiglass material so it didn't adjust. Caleb could hardly reach the pedals as you can see from this video where he is sitting at the end of the seat stretching to reach:



I'm sure the restaurant just loved getting all 6 verses of Hallelujah as well! Don't worry, I only recorded one here:



Caleb said this was the best birthday ever!

What a cute kid! Happy Birthday Caleb!

Singing with the Piano!

All of the sudden Caleb has began taking a great interest with being an accompanist and even singing himself with the piano. He absolutely loves to learn and play songs that someone can sing while he plays.

He learned to play Billy Joel's Lullabye song so his dad could sing it with him:



but then that didn't seem enough, he found out another new song he could play called Hallelujah that he could sing WITH his Daddy:



Now he just sings and plays all the time!

Caleb Makes the Local Newspaper

Last month we received a call from a local newspaper reporter who wanted to do a story about Caleb. She interviewed us and this is what was printed in the September issue of the Murray Journal:

Seven-year-old 'piano man' awarded as talented entertainer

By Julie Slama

Caption — Seven-year-old Caleb Spjute is at home at the piano, having taught himself how to play at age 4.

When Caleb Spjute was four years old, he watched his older brother, Micah, learn to play piano from his aunt.

"It looks like fun and I wanted to play and try it," said the now seven year old.

So his mother, Becca, found the beginning piano books and pointed to the notes middle C, D and E and left him to it.

"Caleb took that book, read through it and began figuring it out," she said. "In one month, he passed up his brother and kept right on going. He said he'd like a song and then I'd find it on the Internet and print it off and he'd figure that out."

One year later, Caleb could perform "The Entertainer" and would be found playing the piano nonstop. He also was ahead of the academic learning curve, so his parents had him skip kindergarten.

Former Viewmont Principal Darren Dean knows of his talents. "He is very talented for his age and takes music lessons from a professor at the U (University of Utah). And, he is also a very good student," Dean said.

Recently, the 3rd-grader took part in the University of Utah's Summer Arts piano competition after studying just one year under associate professor of piano Vedrana Subotic. Caleb, who competed with students up to 10 years of age, won four awards: 1st in solo performance, 1st in theory, 2nd in sight reading and the Iron Man award for best all around in his age division.

"I thought he was just this cute little kid who played," his mother said. "I knew he must have talent, but I didn't know he was that good."

She said Caleb is now being instructed on the right way to play and not his own way he taught himself. As part of a motivator, they have created a Facebook page as well as a blog where they post him playing.

In 1st grade, Caleb played the "March of the Nutcracker" in his class's performance of "The Nutcracker." Last spring, Caleb's own composition won Murray School District's Reflections music category and advanced to state.

"That's all he wants to do is play the piano," his mother said.

"I want to play at The Roof (restaurant) and be a piano teacher someday," Caleb said.

Caleb's talents lie within the family. His father is a singer, his older brother now plays guitar and his five-year-old sister plays the violin. Spjute laughed when she said her husband, Troy, wants two-year-old Macey to play the drums so they can create a family band.

"I took piano lessons for two years and violin for a year, but I'd be the band manager," she said.

Already, the family volunteers to perform at senior homes.

"They love to see him sit down and play all these favorite songs," Spjute said. "He just loves to play."

It seemed to be a nice article. We hoped we didn't come across as boastful. We are proud of our little Caleb!

I think we would have omitted the part about passing up his brother on piano. Caleb has a very talented older brother who has talent in other areas---ballet and tap dance, playing the guitar, and in academics.