Your Daily Moment of Zen

Bug was watching a Minecraft video and was moved to get up and dance to the music. It kind of looks like he is imitating dance moves, but he is not - those moves are 100% his.  Just thought I'd share because it makes me smile every time I watch it.

MonsterPianos! - March 25, 2012

Here's another crusty old post that had been sitting in my drafts folder forever and got forgotten when I was catching up awhile back...

So, waaaaaay back in March, Monkey and I went on sort of a "date", just the two of us, to an annual concert called MonsterPianos at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall.  It featured "Eight 9-foot grand pianos, with as many as 24 pianists playing simultaneously."  I thought he'd either be totally into it, or he'd get bored and not be able to sit through the whole concert, in which case we'd just leave early.  He loves music and I wanted to at least give him a chance to be exposed to something cool, but I was prepared to go with Plan B if it wasn't his thing.  He liked the music, but got pretty squirmy and chatty before it was quite halfway over... so in consideration of the other concertgoers, we left.  The trip was NOT a bust though!  We ended up exploring the concert hall, inside and out, and we had a blast!  First, we wandered around and counted the huge counterweights that hold up the adjustable acoustic ceiling tiles inside the auditorium.  Yup, there were 27, just like the info section in our program said.

Next, we headed outside and explored the surrounding areas.  Since we live out in the country, walking along the streets in the "big city" was kind of a special treat.  We heard a train passing nearby and sprinted over to a bridge to get a look at it, and watched while it passed directly underneath us.  Then we walked over to examine an interesting and unique sculpture that I'd only seen from a distance... 

 

 

Huge glass sculpture by the famous Dale Chihuly.  I assure you, Monkey thought it was really neat.  He just wasn't in the mood for a photo op at that moment...

There were a few smaller sculptures in the area which I had never noticed before, even though I'd driven past them many times.  We checked them out, and then came across a group of musicians practicing just outside the building next door to the concert hall and we listened to them for a few minutes.  Finally, we meandered back to our car in the parking deck, and then headed to get a bite to eat at Swenson's (if you ever come to the Akron, Ohio area, you MUST go there.) before going home.

This outing could have easily ended badly... at first, I was disappointed to be leaving the show early, but it was a case of having realistic expectations for a 6-year-old boy.  I went in knowing that we might not make it through the whole show, and that was okay.  Our explorations afterward made the trip totally worth it.  

Tuba Christmas!

So, today we went to Tuba Christmas for the first time ever.  What a cool experience.  These events are all over the country - if you have the opportunity to attend one - do it!  They are free concerts consisting of hundreds of festively decorated tubas (and euphoniums) playing Christmas songs.

Monkeyman, waiting with excitement: "Only three minutes until the show starts!"

I know this cell phone pic doesn't do it justice, but here are between 400-500 tubas being played by people ranging in age from 10 to 87 years old, with nearly 3,000 people in the audience singing along.  Quite the sensory experience.

Here, the house lights were briefly turned off to showcase the lighted decorations on many of the Tubas.

Quick close-up of a couple of the tubas we passed on our way out.

We will definitely be going again next year.  Next time I will come prepared with:
1. A better camera (I wasn't sure if I was allowed to bring my good one but many people were taking flash photos and it wasn't an issue.)
2. Binoculars, so Monkeyman can study everything on the stage more closely, and
3. Jingle bells.  Many people brought them and enthusiastically jingled them throughout the performance.  An older lady sitting behind us kindly lent hers to Monkeyman for one song and he was in heaven!

Monkeyman definitely enjoyed it, but he did get antsy during the long-ish periods of storytelling between songs.  We went with another homeschooling family with a boy just a bit older than Monkeyman, and both of them began to have a hard time sitting still - and they suddenly, simultaneously developed an urgent need to pee.  So we took them to the restroom and then let them explore the outer parts of the concert hall for a few minutes to let them burn off some energy.  This turned out to be a good workout for both of us moms, too - the boys were dashing up flights of stairs as we breathlessly, laughingly tried to keep up with them.  We also inspected and tested the elevators several times to be sure they were in proper working order.  Thankfully, we could still hear the performance wherever we went.  Monkeyman actually said, "Hey!  We can still hear the music out here so we don't need to go back in!"  We did finally go back in, and the break did help the boys manage to sit through the rest of the show.  Afterward, some of the performers were milling around and we were able to see a few of the tubas up close.  One young musician played a couple notes for Monkeyman as he stood right in front of him, and he was fascinated by the deep, powerful sound.  I wasn't sure where the overall excursion fell on Monkey's personal "boring-to-exciting" scale... until, on the way home, he fervently begged us to stop at a music store and get him a tuba.  He was dead serious, which was quite amusing!  So I'm now considering looking into renting or buying a used brass instrument of some kind for him to try out and see if he's really interested...