Erika is in her second year of Suzuki Paino now. This is her 3rd Recital which takes place at a church about 30 minutes north of where we live. It’s a good time to see the kids get dressed up and then perform in front of a room full of family.
Her learning is still all visual and auditory. She has started to learn some notes but no reading songs from books and playing them yet.
First up… ” Go Tell Aunt Rodie”
After the intermission Erika is up again with “Little Playmates” - She looks back for that connection before the song and then after is smirking because she was proud of herself… as was I.
Here are a few of the photos I shot before, during and after including a class pose. Way to go Erika!
Erika and her mom headed out to see James Blunt last night in Toronto at the Sony Center. It was Erika’s second time seeing this performer and it looks like they had a great night.
Joel Plaskett live in Rochester, New York on November 2, 2007 opening for the Tragically Hip at the Auditorium Theater… comes out afterwards to say “hello” to Erika and Justin… see below ! While working the Tragically Hip concert in Rochester I got to meet Joel Plaskett after his opening set. He came out to sign some of his CD’s for fans… so I grabbed one and asked for an autograph for Erika and Justin after explaining how we all enjoy his music..with our favourite tune off the new CD being “snowed in/Cruisin’” the song above.I followed that up by asking him to say “hello” to both Justin and Erika on camera. Check Joel out…
We played music for Erika during the pregnancy. Then she started “mommy & me ” music class at 88 Keys when she was 6 months old. As for bedtime music we used her CD player in her room every night for the last 5+ years. Children’s music, sometimes French music and alot of airplay to David Gray, James Blunt, Serena Ryder and I may have snuck in some Tragically Hip too. It has been awesome watching her discover music. Next Step…. Piano Lessons of course. We decided to stay with 88 Keys and they offer a non traditional method of piano lessons called The SUZUKI Method.
A little about the suzuki method From Wikipedia “In the beginning, learning music by ear is emphasized over reading musical notation. This parallels language acquisition, where a child learns to speak before learning to read. Related to this, memorization of all solo repertoire is expected, even after a student begins to use sheet music as a tool to learn new pieces.”
So the way it works is that the parent actually takes 4 lessons before the child even touches the piano. This is to get me up to speed so that I am in a position to guide Erika as we practice each day. I will learn along side her. The lessons are 30 minutes one on one…. and then you actually stay and observe another Suzuki student learning for 30 minutes also. Once a month we go into a group setting where we play and interact with other students.
So I have 3 lessons under my belt and can play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. Guess I have to master that before I can bang out any Elton John or Jackson Brown. This is the beginning of something… and I don’t care what it is… I just know it’s the right direction.
First Lesson… Erika sat in the back and snapped a picture.
Long weekend and we headed down to Beachfest put on by the MIX 99.9. It was at Sunnyside Beach in Toronto and there were alot of people along the waterfront because of a excellent Air show that was on for a good part of the afternoon. The main reason we went down was to see Serena Ryder. She is a soulful Canadian artist who Erika has been listening to for almost a year now I guess. Chantal Kreviazuk came on once we got into position. She sounded excellent on piano and received a nice response from her hometown crowd. Then Kalan Porter came on and sang a few of his own then butchered U2’s Where The Streets Have No Name.
So many of the teenagers bolted to get an autograph after Kalan’s show and that allowed for Erika and I to get right up to the front for Serena Ryder. Erika couldn’t believe how close we were and watched the entire show from my shoulders. Chantal and Justin came up to join us too after awhile. Erika snapped photos with here own camera and I grabbed a bunch myself. The show was great and after we headed to the side to get Serena’s autograph…. definitely worth the trip down to Lake Ontario.
Imagine… 13th Row we sat and witnessed Erika take in first Big Indoor concert at the age of 4 1/2. She had been listening to James Blunt for months every night as she goes to bed so she really got it. She looked up and saw, heard and felt the music that plays on her CD Player. It was amazing to see her experience this. She took some great pictures and although a little tired at the end she sang along to many of her favourite songs including the cover-song they performed by Supertramp!
Erika and I went to the Toronto Music Expo. There were exhibits from CD Framing to Guitars and Pianos. Erika’s favourite was the 100 set Drum Area where you could try all sorts of quite rubber drums with headphones. At the end of the day we watched Honeymoon Suite perform… just to add another concert to her list
I followed that up by asking him to say “hello” to both Justin and Erika on camera. Check Joel out… 
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