Ms. Popular!

Today’s post is about our little Katya. Well, she is not little any more (although she seems to be quite a shrimp compared to some of her classmates) but we like to think of her, and will forever, as our little girl. Katya has advanced quite a bit in her piano and singing in the last year. She absolutely loves to sing! Loves it! And she absolutely does not like to practice piano! It’s a pain to get her to focus and get a good 30-40 min practice session out of her. Sigh.

Poor child (and I mean it in a bit of a sarcastic way), she is in for a long-long ride. Since the deal is that she cannot quit piano till she is fourteen, I tell her she could either be miserable for the next 3.5 years or just change the attitude and realize that she has the talent and just needs to add that 99% of work to it. Yeah, her parents know way to well about how much it matters to take a musical instrument lesson and not just to learn how to play it. So no quitting allowed…even when the road seems hard.

One of the things that really help Katya to refresh her memory on “why” she can enjoy piano is when she is praised by other people (not her teacher or me) for her accomplishments. It’s even cooler if someone asks her to play the piano for a big event. For example, a month ago, our friend who teaches violin on base, asked Katya to accompany a group of violinists at their final recital and to play some prelude music for several minutes before the concert. What a great experience it was for her!

Her being “in demand” did not end there. The following week, our Alconbury Elementary School was holding its annual Talent Show. Katya was involved in several things—she played the anthem for the audience to sing before the show, accompanied the violinists again, and performed her own number, this time the singing one.

She also had to play prelude music.

Playing a keyboard is not the same thing as playing the piano…and she realized that very soon.

Here is her accompanying the violinists, well, walking up to the keyboard at the moment.

And finally, her favorite part—the singing part. She knew the song very well, sang it at least a thousand times, thus she could relax and just put her heart into it all.

The name of the song is “Popular” from the musical “Wicked”, which she had seen already twice.

I know I have posted this on facebook a while ago, but this one here is for our personal record. I love watching it and just enjoying Katya’s beautiful voice and overwhelming cuteness.

So, Katrusia, don’t give up! Remember the saying on the wall above our computer “Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort” by Theodore Roosevelt.

Lyana.