Ella's Schulkonzert

Dennis stayed home today, sick with the boys' cold. It's probably not fair to Dennis to call it a silver lining, but because he was home, I was able to leave Joey with him so that I could watch Ella's open dress rehearsal for tonight's concert.  She ran of to school this morning, so pleased with her new outfit, calling for me to please come watch if I could.

When I arrived at school, the playground was a swarming mass of tiny beatniks: Ella had mentioned that they would have no shoes for the concert, but I wasn't expecting to see everyone barefoot on the playground pavement.  The bell rang almost as soon as I got there, and a shrill, excited squeal went out, as all of the black-clad second graders made a mass charge to the door, to the stairs, to the music room.

I tucked myself in a corner with my camera, as all of the first graders and one class of Kindergarteners (but not Alex's) filed in.  It was really cute, watching the second graders striding around purposely and wiggling with excitement as they adjusted each others' headbands. It was so clearly a big deal to them, this concert. I tip my hat to the teachers, giving them this experience.

There are two classes of second graders, and each is split in half, with a red group and a blue group. Each of these four groups had two songs that they performed alone: one song, and one dance. And, in the middle of the show, some kids performed solos on their instruments: a scratchy violin, a cello ("She's been playing less than a year!"), a squeaky recorder.  And then, of course, the grade sang a few songs all together. It was pretty cute.

Ella's group sang that version of "Are You Sleeping" that I mentioned before, with Ella doing her solo.  She said she wasn't nervous at all, a confidence which she clearly doesn't get from me.  And if I do say so myself (and, as her mother, darn it, I'm entitled) she sounded very sweet. Although, from the tone of the song, I really fear that Bruder Jakob won't be waking up any time soon.

The dance for Ella's group was an odd little faux martial arts thing: it reminded me a lot of the old guys who exercise in People's Park in Berkeley.  I'm posting the video here, but please don't feel obligated to watch: Ella was bored, herself, even as she was performing the thing.

I'm going to post a little bit of the rest of the concert, for those curious souls out there, and particularly for my mother, who used to be an elementary music teacher and for Dennis's mother, who was a grade school teacher and then a principal.

For those of you who aren't interested in watching a second grade musical concert, truncated though it might be...well, I don't blame you.  But I will make you listen to a few observations. I could totally understand why Ella had dance-envy: all of the other groups got to perform cute little folk dances. One group did a little country-western-style dance, and I was amused to see that, for their costumes, they had to wear either cowboy hats or baseball caps: six of one, apparently. I get the sense that the cowboy is very much the stereotypical American, here.

Although they dipped heavily into the stereotypes when they portrayed their own country, as well: for the song, "In de Schwiitz," for a solid minute, I watched the kids silently pantomime hiking in the mountains with walking sticks, greeting one another with enthusiastic handshakes.  And then they transitioned into a little half circle, where they pretended their sticks were alphorns as they sang.  They ended with a yodel.

I wanted to give Dennis a quiet house when I got back, so after lunch I took Alex and Joey out for a trip to the Meyer Obstgarten.  Susannah had reminded me that it was high cherry season, so we went hoping to get something good from the farm store.

I let the boys ride their scooters all the way, and they were thrilled to ride on the wide, smooth, long paved path to the farm.  When we got to the farm, the little store, which had just opened, was already crammed with customers, although the only things on the shelves were a few crates of cherries, a few dozen fresh eggs, a crate of potatoes, and a freezer full of veal products.  Oh, and some bottles of homemade kirsch, which were seriously tempting.

But I only had money for cherries today, and I'm so glad that's how I spent it.  Guys, these were the best cherries I've ever had in my life.  Although they were delicious, eating them was bittersweet: I think cherries are now ruined for me. As we approached the farm store, we rode through the little cherry grove, and they were clearly picking the very last of the harvest: this is it for the year. So ephemeral.

I think I remember writing, when we first moved here, that the produce selection in the grocery stores was depressingly small and expensive.  My hopes that this would change in the summer were founded: apparently even the largest chain stores stock mostly local Swiss produce.  What's in season is cheap and fresh and so tasty.  And then it's gone.  I'm already noticing very few strawberries on the shelves, which is too bad for Alex, who would happily eat a whole quart for lunch.  But the blueberries are appearing.  As long as something's actually in season, it's a really nice way to eat.

On the way home, the boys took off on their scooters, flying down the path, until Alex noticed that a car, one of the farmers, was inching behind him.  He jumped into hero mode, flinging his scooter to the side of the road, screaming for his brother, and them picking him up bodily, scooter and all, and carrying him to the side of the road.  Joey was completely indignant, kicking and screaming ("I walk myself!") but Alex didn't let go until the car went past.  So I made a big fuss over him: he was the hero of the day.  Alex told me that he would really like it, now, if you all referred to him as "Hero Alex."

Ella's concert wasn't until 7:00, so I was really happy that Joey fell asleep for a nap on the way home, giving me hope that he'd behave himself in the audience.  Ella paused at home only long enough to say hi, and then ran off to nochElla's house to do her homework.  The girls have taken to doing most of their work there, which I think is just wonderful.  I thanked nochElla's mother profusely for all of the help she's been giving my daughter, and she was so kind about it.  She said that she scarcely does anything: the girls just sit together at the table and help each other. And they have fun, which is nice, since they have so much work to get through.

Ella came home for a quick dinner, and then nochElla came and grabbed her so that the two of them could run off, giggling, to get to school on time.  The rest of us were pretty close behind: the music room, where the performance would be, is very small, and we wanted to make sure we got a seats, let alone a good one.

We got held back a little because, as they were leaving, Ella called for me when she noticed a little one-year-old, standing in the road outside our house, crying, all alone.  I know they encourage independence in children here, but that seemed to be a little excessive. I ran out and scooped her up, which stopped her tears, but I had no idea how to find her mother, or to call for help.  Finally, after about five minutes of trying to ask this little girl what her name was, eventually with the help of some passersby, her flustered mother showed up, poor woman.

Ella and her group mates

It turned out that, although we were later than we planned, we were still plenty early.  At ten minutes before the start of the show, we were still four of only a dozen people in the room.  But, when the show started promptly at 7:00, the room was packed, with children sitting all over the aisles and at our feet.

Joey...well, he mostly behaved. Although he did chirp an excited "ELLA!" whenever he saw his sister.  Ella thought this was a hoot, and kept waving to her little brother, giggling and telling him to hush.  It might have distracted her a little.

Her other brother was more subdued.  No one clapped louder than he did whenever she was on stage, but he fell asleep about two-thirds into the show, curled up across Dennis's lap.

"Shh, Joey, I'm right here!"

The kids closed the show with a group song: the teacher dimmed the lights, and they all got to wave flashlights in the air as they sang.  But Ella quickly discovered that the flashlight she grabbed was actually a headlamp.  She was standing in the far back, and she was well aware of how obstructed she was from the audience.  I was watching, though, and could see her face change as she examined her light. She got the exact same look her Aunt Kathy and I get we're about to start being ridiculous.  I braced myself and watched her slip the light on her head and do a silly little dance, to the giggles of her classmates. Yes, yes, I'm so proud.

But she did a great job during her solo, again, and after the show I introduced myself to her teacher, thanking her for giving Ella a special moment.  Ella always tells me of her "she looks really normal, but when she opens her mouth, she has the voice of an angel." She certainly knew how to talk sweetly to a parent, telling me what a beautiful voice my daughter had, and how she really needs to start playing piano, how she has a great talent.

Oh, do go on, teacher!

But, seriously, Ella doesn't get so much positive reinforcement in school: judging by her ebullience, getting to shine just a little tonight meant the world to her, and I'm grateful to the teachers for realizing that.