Family Date

We dressed up in our fancy clothes and went on a family date to the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra Lollipop Concert.  I'd been looking forward to this night since last spring when we first found out they would be playing Carnival of the Animals and Peter and the Wolf, two of our most favorite classical pieces to listen to. 

The night started with an instrument petting zoo, and it was a hilarious hit.  Adam and Leah were both eager to try out the drums, french horn, tuba, trombone, clarinet, flute and saxophone.  Some instruments required a lot of blowing and produced little or no sound (the clarinet), others made more sounds than they expected and caused them to jump back (the tuba). 

But the favorite instrument for both- by far- was the violin.  Leah loves to pretend she is a violinist, and to finally get the chance to hold and play a real one was a dream come true.  They each had a twinkle in their eye when it was finally their turn. Leah pulled the bow back and forth across the strings a few times before running over to me to report her success, and Adam kept playing back and forth, back and forth until we had to tell him his turn was over.  I can definitely see orchestra in our future!

And that was before the music even started!  The kids were so excited to see the instruments in action, and they did their best to have good concert manners.  Everyone was on their best age-appropriate behavior, meaning no whining, shrieking, tantrums, or pants-filling from anyone.

They were mesmerized by the music- Adam said, "This sounds just like the music from our computer!" and I knew the night was a success when Leah leaned over during the emotional performance of Camille St. Saen's The Swan and said, "Mom, this song makes me feel like I want to cry."  Exactly.  That is the power of music.  It was such a treat to get to show them where music comes from, how it is created, and how it can make you feel so uplifted.