Musical Extravaganza!

This weekend has been a whirlwind of Musical Stuffs!

Saturday night was (finally) the kids' Christmas pageant. It was called It's A Wonder-Full Life, and it was about a boy who wished he could get rid of all the religious stuff and get straight to the presents because he was tired of having to work so hard in his church Christmas play every year. Josie was in it, and played a child whose part in the play-in-a-play was Mary, so my little Pea was dressed up as the Virgin Mary! It was so cute!!!! Also, she had a solo, and she sounded so beautiful!!!! And, I am NOT AT ALL biased. At ALL. Nope. It was a great, funny play, with a lot of laughter and costumes and choreography.

This morning, the adult choir, which I am in, did a Christmas Cantata that took the place of the regular sermon - basically, we sang a sermon comprised of various pieces about the shepherds, since it's the third week of Advent this Sunday, and the third candle is for the shepherds. We had been rehearsing and rehearsing and REHEARSING for the past few weeks, including two hours on the past few Saturday mornings in addition to our regular times. Our music director is also the choir teacher at a local magnet school for the arts, so his chamber choir also came to sing with us, AND we had an orchestra play with us, too!!! It was great. I love being able to be a part of things like this. Choir is really both a source and an outlet for joy to me, and this is one of the best times of year to be there. The pieces we did today were really, really difficult, and they pushed my range WAY higher, which is also good (now that it's done). Tomorrow night a group of us are going caroling at a local elder-care home, which I am both looking forward to because I like caroling and I like to make people happy, but am also dreading a tiny bit because, well, it is what it is. I remember going to those places as a high schooler and having a lot of the people not even really know we were there, which made it a really rough experience. I know we'll have fun, though, and the people will appreciate it.

Also this morning, Josie played the prelude at her piano teacher's church (her teacher is the music director there, across town from where we go), on the ORGAN!!!! Apparently, as long as you aren't fiddling with the buttons, it's a lot like playing the piano, except you play an octave higher or something. So, my baby played the huge pipe organ at a 200+ year old church today. I wasn't there, because I was doing the cantata, but DH took her, and she said she had a great time and really liked it. Her piano teacher told DH afterward that he thinks she should take organ lessons as well, and could probably get a job playing organ for a church as a teenager on Sunday mornings, and make a good deal of money. He really is a lovely man, is constantly telling us how gifted she is and what a pleasure she is to teach, and typically extends her lesson well over the allotted time at no charge, sometimes spending a full hour with her just because he wants to. Josie, in turn, really loved the idea of taking organ lessons, and of course loved the idea of being able to do it for a living someday, so now I'm debating as to whether to let her do that or not. I don't think her regular teacher teaches organ, just piano, so it would mean another lesson during the week, and of course more money. On the one hand, he really thinks that she's gifted, and I've had several other people tell me that as well, and I don't want to hold her back, but on the other I don't want her to be overscheduled, either. Then, too, there's Patrick to consider: Josie has a lot going on, and he really doesn't have anything, other than the kids' choir at church. He could probably use a physical outlet during the winter, but that would mean even *more* money out of our pockets. Maybe I could get him into something at the Y again, that would be cheap. Ugh, and I don't want to live in my car, either. Down by the river. (five points if you get that reference!)

Any thoughts? Should I let her take organ? Is it too much? Am I holding her back if I don't? Ugh. She already has Battle of the Books once a week from January through March, kids' choir once a week, and piano once a week. Then, in the spring, there will be softball that will take the place of BotB. Maybe if I could talk her piano teacher into combining her lesson with organ, that would just make what she already has a little longer rather than adding another day. Sigh.