Summer Recital (Practice for Competition)

Caleb had a recital where everyone performed songs they were going to play at competitions coming up. Caleb performed his concerto again with his teacher, and then he also played a new song he's been working on; Haydn's Sonata in D major, 3rd movement:

Monster Concert 2011

Caleb got to participate in the University of Utah's Monster Concert.
The Monster Concert is a huge concert where they put about 14 pianos on the stage all at one time and then students perform on the pianos all at the same time.

This year's theme was Disney songs, and Caleb was going to play a song from the movie Fantasia. A lot of the songs incorporate costumes, so Caleb decided to dress up like Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer in Fantasia.

Caleb was going to be playing in the biggest song. It would have 27 students all playing his song at the same time. As he went to rehearsals, they saw Caleb looked pretty cute all dressed up, and he was a good kid, so they decided to give him some extra parts.

They asked Caleb to be part of the show opening and welcome the audience, as well as conduct the first song!

Here is Caleb with Cinderella and Belle announcing the show to begin:

Then he conducts the first song, "Be Our Guest".

Here is a little video of his conducting:

We thought he did a pretty good job considering he has never conducted before.

Then came Caleb's performance. He shared a piano bench with an older student on the end of the stage. Caleb was the youngest student performing.

They played the piece "Night on Bald Mountain" from Fantasia.

It was by far one of the best performances of the night. Here is the video:



It was a really fun evening and we can't wait until next year's concert.

Caleb Visits His Favorite Concert Pianist (besides his teacher of course)

Almost a year ago, Caleb met a young man named Josh Wright who he had seen and heard about on the internet and from what was called "Josh Wright Piano TV". He was at the Summer Arts Awards Ceremony when he first was introduced, and then later at the Summer Arts Winners Recital at the University of Utah, he got to talk with him some more.

Caleb so admired this young pianist. He had been playing piano for a long time, even when he was a little boy just like Caleb. Caleb wanted to be just like this pianist.

Over the last year Caleb began leaving comments on Josh Wright's facebook fan page and they began to comment to each other back and forth. Caleb watched as Josh became more successful and soon put out a top selling CD. Caleb saw that Josh was in several articles in the newspaper and had many pictures as well. So excited was he, that Caleb just had to go meet Josh again to get his CD and to have it signed as well as his newspaper clippings.

He was so happy to see Josh and to have him sign his CD. Josh told him that he had even gone out and bought a suit vest so that he could look as stylin' as Caleb.

What an inspiration Josh has been to Caleb. He is so talented and yet so grounded, humble and kind. If you haven't heard his music, you should check it out! You can see him on joshwrightpiano.com. Very talented indeed! Caleb hopes he can be as talented one day!

Amazing Caleb Wins Competition!

Caleb went to a piano competition in Park City to play 2 solo pieces and a concerto. Now, we weren't expecting much if not anything because his age division had been cancelled, but they were allowing him to play with the next older age group just so he could still go and perform.

Really, Caleb is in the 2nd grade age group, but he had to compete in the group for 4th to 7th grade. We were just hoping maybe somebody would be sick, or some people would not show up, and then maybe, just maybe he could get at least an honorable mention.

Here he is before entering the building to perform:

Well, anyway, yes, 1 person cancelled, so we were pretty hopeful for the last place prize, but then we were greatly surprised when they announced Caleb was a finalist to come back and perform in the winners recital that night with his concerto.

Really?! How could that be? OK, so maybe he was just super lucky and they were going to let him have 2nd place, but surely not 1st. I mean, really, these other kids were really good.

But, upon looking at the competition website's results, it only listed Caleb as the finalist and another girl as Honorable Mention. So that was it. It was Caleb as 1st place, and in an age category that he wasn't even old enough to really be in! We were astonished! I mean, true, when he played his concerto for the judge it was soooo good. He only had a small little mistake near the very end, but I guess our Caleb did it!

Here is a picture of Caleb with his wonderful piano teacher who accompanied him for his concerto:

So, back to Park City for the awards ceremony and Caleb performed his concerto:



Now, he got jumbled up on a middle section where he played a few measures too many times, but his scales were just perfect and overall a nice performance.

And then at the end they gave out the awards:



As you can see, Caleb got his very first trophy, and a medal! He was so excited! He said it was the best day ever, and that he loved playing the piano and doing competitions so much that he even liked it better than playing video games! And that is a very big deal.

We're so proud of our little Caleb. Still a little dumbfounded by it all. I mean, no, he's not perfect, and gee, how I wish I could video him when he is actually competing in front of judges because he competes soooo very well, but gee. What an awesome kid! We hope he continues to succeed and excel in his music and can eventually live out his dream of being a professional piano player.

Caleb's First Concerto

What is this whole concerto thing?

Over the past 2 years, we've seen some of the older students of Caleb's piano teacher play concertos. A concerto is where you play with another piano/pianist or with an orchestra. Many of the other students would play a concerto with their teacher for some of the recitals, or we'd hear about concerto competitions they'd be in.

We asked another parent what that was all about and she told us that around the time a student was in 5th grade, Caleb's piano teacher would assign them a concerto to start working on for the year and then they could perform it or compete with it.

Well, Caleb is pretty good, and we asked about when he would do one. His teacher thought he could handle one, so she assigned him one right after Christmas. I don't know if it was easier than normal ones, or not so long, or what, but Caleb had it played through in the first week and memorized by the end of the month. He still had a lot to work on, but this concerto thing was pretty cool. He got it down well enough that they decided he could compete in the Utah Music Teacher's Association's Concerto Competition.

Now, this was a competition for kids up to 6th grade, so we didn't think Caleb had any chance for winning, but it would be good experience and a first for him. Caleb just loves the participation certificates anyway.
And looky there! This one had a shiny gold seal just like he likes!

Another competition would be coming up the 2nd of April though. And this one was offered to lower age divisions. There was a K-3rd grade age group, and we really hoped Caleb could enter this one and maybe bring home a prize!

BUT--all hopes were lost when the competition chair called us earlier this month and told us that nobody else had even entered the concerto competition for Caleb's age range, so they had to cancel that group to compete. Also sad was that he had entered the solo competition but there was only 1 other entry and they must have at least 5 entries, so they cancelled that competition as well.

How sad Caleb was, but then we thought, hey, he just wants to play his songs and get another oh so cherished certificates, what if they allowed him to play with the older age groups?
We asked, and although they advised against it because he would be competing against kids up to 13 years old, Caleb really wanted to, so we went ahead and had them bump him up to the next age levels.

So, little 8 year old Caleb, so determined to play his songs, will be going to competition this weekend ready to compete against kids up to 5 years older than he. Oh, well. He knew he was just doing this for experience and practice performing. He's just excited about that certificate!

Anyway, Caleb has worked so hard on this concerto in such little time. Why not have some more chances to perform it? He got to play it with another student at his earlier competition, but then he played it with his teacher at their last recital and will again for the competition this weekend.

He messed up a little bit on some important scale at the beginning and a few stumbles along the way, but we are proud of little Caleb and that such a small boy could take on such a large piece.

Here he is performing Haydn's Piano Concerto in D Major, 3rd movement:

Caleb's Spring Recital

Caleb played in his Spring piano recital this week.

Here is his solo piece, "Anitra's Dance" by Grieg":



This one is a little difficult because it uses crossing hands and pedal at the same time which is hard for Caleb since he can barely reach the pedals!

Caleb Prepares for his First Concerto Competition

(Silly Caleb in his new hat!)

Caleb has been super busy these past weeks. He has been working harder than he ever has on piano. He is preparing for his first Concerto Competition.

A concerto is a piece that is played between 2 instruments or with one instrument and an orchestra. Caleb has been learning a piano concerto in which he can play with another piano or with an orchestra.

It is his first concerto and it is many pages long and lasts about 7 minutes when played through. He has been at rehearsals preparing already every night this week. It takes a lot of work though and he is being very diligent in his practicing.

He is working with his teacher and a fellow piano student who will play the other piano part for him. The other student is a senior in high school who seems to play so effortlessly beautiful, while little Caleb really struggles with his small hands, but somehow he makes it work. He is trying really hard.

Here is a little video preview of their progress:

We wish Caleb the best of luck for his upcoming competition. It is a first, and they don't have age divisions for his age group really. They have an Elementary division that is for up to 6th grade. Caleb is only 8 and should be in the 2nd grade although he skipped a year, so there will be many kids much older than he is. We still hope he does well. He just loves the certificates anyway, even if they are just for participation.