Simpedia

Cathy H., California

twas halloween eve and all though my house
ran teeny little kids, even a mouse! (sorry…..it was the best I could come up with!)

they ran to the piano and played with glee each 2 songs, very strange indeed

not what I taught, but each changed the tune
to match the holiday, oooooooo some with gloom!

I’ve attached a few pics for your delight
to add to your holiday without fright

simply spooooky recital took place that day
then the kids left and went out to play!

on their way out, they said to me
“send it to Mr. Moore would you please?”

so Neil beware some pictures have arrived
from tiny little goblins with lots of pride!

Happy Halloween!

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This latest installment of the Halloween Recital was sent in by Cathy during Novmber 2004.

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Anyone who knows me well knows my favorite season is autumn and that I love Halloween! This year was my third Simply Spooky Recital. I originally started this in my home on a much smaller scale in order to offer new students who had never performed in public an opportunity to do so in a comfortable, friendly environment in which they could have fun, be creative, build their confidence and self-esteem. The students are given the assignment of composing their own piece or alter an SM piece to suit the season. Unlike the Spring recital, this performance is highly creative! I’m always amazed at what they come up with and for my 2nd and 3rd year students this became a terrific exercise in composition and reading. Five students composed their own pieces.

This year I expanded the recital and thought it would be more fun to do it with someone else so asked Sandy if she wanted to participate….she agreed. This is a huge undertaking, six months worth of work for us, and honestly, I don’t think she knew what she was in for (sorry Sandy). I’m not sure who had more fun, the teachers or the kids!

In March we rented a large hall in Pleasanton for its spooky atmosphere and sold tickets to cover the cost of rent, insurance and PIZZA! We were limited to 220 people, so had to limit the number of tickets per family and sold out in no time.

How we did this would take far too long to put in an email. But I will say that I am very lucky to have a large supportive group of parents as well as Sandy’s and my own children who volunteered to take charge of desserts (cupcakes etc); table decorations, distributing pizza and assisting the children on and off the stage. Sandy and I took charge of the stage set creating a musical thicket, which included two beautiful 12 and 15 foot dead oak tree branches, tombstones, fog machine, picket fences, and blinking lights. One of my parents is a professional photographer and we arranged to have her take photos. When my students found out that the teachers were going to dress alike as sister witches, we had several kids in pointy hats arrive, even our parents! Everything went like clockwork. The haunted clavinova played while people took their seats and the moms were awesome assisting us in moving 52 students through the program in 1 hour 10 minutes, all students playing beautifully. The problems we had were so minimal they are not worth mentioning. We finished by bringing the students on stage for an audience participatory “She’ll be Ridin’ on a Broomstick” (sung to “She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain”).

The party began with pizza, dessert, and a drawing for prizes. The parents helped clean up and we went home exhausted. In all the evening was a great success, parents and kids loved it.