Blue Ridge Parkway Jr Ranger Badge

Sunshine recently had a gig with the Irish music group she's a part of, as part of a celebration of the musical heritage of the Appalachian mountains. It gave us the chance to explore part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which we also discovered is part of the National Park Service and has a Junior Ranger program. So naturally, we had to add another pin to Sunshine's collection.

But first, some pics of the boys during Sunshine's performance. Ocean was not a happy camper: he hadn't taken a nap on the drive like I thought he would, and he's teething. So he was tired and grumpy and vocal about it. 

the cute face is deceptive

this is a bit more like it: biting on blankie because he just couldn't handle himself

at one point he fell down and just laid on the ground for a minute, deciding if it was worth it to get up or if he should fuss, or what

Sunshine with the group. They were singing a song here.

and the boys while she was singing: River listening and clapping, Ocean ignoring her and munching on grass (yum!)

We actually ran out of time to finish the junior ranger program on our first visit because the boys were just exhausted and losing it, so we went back later to finish up and receive her pin. We were able to get some great pictures of the scenery along the drive.

Sunshine being sworn in as a junior ranger while River tries to make a run for it.

Pictures like this make it obvious why they're called the Blue Ridge Mountains. So pretty!

Fall Irish Music School Recital

final rehearsal for the song her class sang, Sunshine is the short one wearing a hat

Sunshine's recital was almost a month ago, but with the holidays and everything, I never wrote about it or even edited the pictures.

I could have played in the recital, but everyone in my class (myself included) decided that wasn't necessary, so we didn't participate :)

Sunshine standing a little stiffly in her dance outfit

Sunshine danced, sang, and played her fiddle. I brought our fancy camera, but forgot to check the battery, which was only partially charged. And I was caught unawares when Sunshine's dance class went first and I couldn't remember how to do video. So I have some still photos of her dancing, but no video. I got the video figured out after that, so I have video of the rest of her performances, but no photos. Mr M was on River-duty and wasn't able to take photos. Ah well. We have a couple pictures to share at least.

There were only two girls in her class this time. Sunshine's on the left and their teacher is in front of them, giving cues as needed. The adult musicians provide live music for all the dance performances.

River and this little red-haired girl were so cute together. Her older sisters were in Sunshine's Tuesday  class and also attended day camp with Sunshine. Two summers ago their mom was pregnant at the same time I was, and the little girl was actually born the day after River. At the recital River and the little girl were looking at each other and poking at each other and being cute and distracting. When they were at the front up by the stage everyone was watching them instead of the performers. Oops :)

Irish Flute Lessons

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I've mentioned before that Sunshine takes several classes at our local Irish music school, and Mr M has taken fiddle lessons there as well. This fall, it's my turn to take a class. I'm taking a beginning tin whistle/Irish flute class. My intent is to play the Irish flute (the pic above is a basic keyless Irish flute), but apparently learning on the tin whistle (picture below) is the easy way to go.

I actually wanted to take the class last fall, but since I was due to have River very soon after classes started, I decided I should be patient and wait.

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I started a couple weeks ago, and it's been pretty interesting. The fingerings are fairly similar to flute and oboe fingerings, so they were super easy to learn. The challenge is learning the music. Irish music has a lot of repetition in it, so that helps, but a big part of learning the songs is listening and playing by ear. Despite playing instruments since kindergarten, I have never learned to play by ear (which is why I specifically looked for a Suzuki teacher for Sunshine when she first started violin lessons). I've also never been very successful at memorizing music. If you watch a session, most of the players are playing without sheet music in front of them.

Since the fingerings aren't a challenge, I'm focusing on memorizing the song we're working on. As I play I'm also trying to feel or hear what notes come next. That's the hard part. It's not at all intuitive for me, though it is for Sunshine- she's proven quite adept at playing by ear.

Can you play by ear?