You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

If you have an open Thursday or Saturday evening this week, you might consider tuning in to our high school's production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Jeff and I saw the dress rehearsal on Monday and it is just the funnest show! We loved the music, dialogue, and especially that cute Linus Van Pelt played by our Soren. ;) (Sadie was an understudy for Sally Brown and she is on the stage crew.) The small six-person cast is comprised of all Seniors and they are Soren's best friends. It's been a great experience for them.

Here's a fun preview...

And here's all the info if you plan to watch. (Tickets may not be available within 30 minutes of each night's opening so buy them early!) Also, the 7:30pm start time is Central time zone. 

An Easter Celebration

Sterling is serving in the Texas San Antonio Mission. Last night the mission shared a musical Easter Celebration over Facebook Live and YouTube. It's a collection of musical numbers performed by missionaries and members throughout the greater San Antonio area. It's really beautiful and uplifting. Sterling recorded and mixed all the audio. He also sings in two of the numbers (at 38:55 and 45:35). I would have loved this even if Sterling wasn't involved, but seeing his cute face makes me love it even more.

Click here to watch: YouTube or you can also click on the picture below. 

Be A Light

I remember we were just a few weeks into the pandemic when I first heard this song by Thomas Rhett last April. We were all feeling a little cooped up, frustrated, and tired. There was also plenty of finger pointing about decisions being made on a national level, not to mention the political tension as candidates and their parties couldn't say anything nice about each other. 

Country music always seems to tell it like it is and the lyrics to this song pretty clearly state what we all needed to hear then, and need just as much now. 

Here are just a few of the lyrics (first verse and chorus), but the whole song is worth listening to.

In a time full of war, be peace.

In a time full of doubt, just believe.

Yeah, there ain't that much difference between you and me.

In a time full of war, be peace.

In a world full of hate, be a light.

When you do somebody wrong, make it right.

Don't hide in the dark. You were born to shine.

In a world full of hate, be a light.

The Addams Family - You're Invited!

If you'd been a fly on the wall at our house these past couple of  months, you would have heard a lot of funny music and plenty of laughter as Sadie and Soren prepped for their high school production of The Addams Family. It's a special quarantine edition which accommodates social distancing so they are actually allowed to have a production this year. The script even has a couple of one-liners about quarantine. :)

The show will be streamed online on March 5th & 6th at 7:00 pm Central time. Yes, you still need to purchase tickets. Our poor performing arts program was drained last year when Mary Poppins came to a screeching halt after they'd already built the set and purchased costumes, etc. We're hopeful that The Addams Family will be a smashing success to replenish the budget and allow them to put on more shows. (You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown is ready to start rehearsals as soon as The Addams Family is through!)

You can find all the information about tickets on the flyer above. If you're not familiar with Charleston High School, they have a long history of amazing stage productions. There must be something in the water here because the talent pool in our small town is unreal. Jeff and I were lucky enough to be part of a very small audience tonight to view the dress rehearsal and we were blown away! Sadie is amazing in her role as Mrs. Beineke. Soren did great as one of the ancestors and on Saturday we got to see him perform as the understudy for Lucas Beineke. 

I hope you'll join us, wherever you are, for this fun show! You won't regret it. :)

Dynamite

We're still big fans of BYU Vocal Point around here. Here's their latest video, complete with three members of the BYU Young Ambassadors rockin' the dance moves! 

How Great Thou Art

Sterling is in San Antonio, Texas as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Because of Covid-19, missionary work looks a lot different in 2020 than it did when I served in Scotland a million years ago. Missionaries are currently unable to knock on doors and ask people if they are interested in learning about Christ and His gospel. While hard at first, missionaries are stepping up to the challenge all over the world and coming up with new and, often, better ways to share the gospel. 

As you may know, Sterling is very musical. Walking away from his at-home recording studio was hard on him when he left last December. But now he's got his recording equipment with him in Texas and he's putting his talents and skills to good use. Sterling and the others on the mission technology committee are working together to help their fellow missionaries produce videos to share their light with the world. 

Here's a video they released last week. It's an arrangement that Sterling heard and then recreated. It was originally sung by an a cappella group called Reprise. 

Sterling should have another video coming out in the next day or two that he arranged himself. I can't wait!

Sterling's Final Violin Recital

I've been missing Sterling this week. He's already finished his time at the Missionary Training Center. He had so many awesome experiences and was sad to leave, but after three weeks it was time to go. He arrived in San Antonio yesterday. Doesn't he look great?

Sterling with President and Sister Tveten in front of the San Antonio Temple, January 8, 2020.

Sterling played in his final violin recital just a week before he left on his mission. He played "All Creatures of Our God And King," arranged by Sam Cardon, and he was accompanied by Soren. You'll notice in the video that Soren had a bit of a wrestle with his pages, but he handled it like a pro. I love listening to my boys play together. It's definitely something I'll miss!

ReMix Revisited

Sterling attended the ReMix Vocal Academy during the summer of 2017 at BYU. It was such an amazing experience that he and Soren were excited to attend together this year.

It didn't disappoint.

Sterling was the first one we saw in the show opener.

A whole week of a cappella instruction and rehearsal, team bonding and workshops makes for a really good time. The teams were super tight and both of my boys loved every minute. They are already saving up for next year. 

Here are the numbers my boys were in:
Show Opener (all teams): Kaleidoscope

Blue Team (Sterling): Home For Me

Green Team (Soren): Pieces

Closing Mashup (all teams)

If you are interested in hearing the other team songs, here's a link to the entire ReMix session B playlist.

Sterling had the opening solo in his team song.

Soren had a solo in his team song, too. 

Sterling's team. Sterling is third in the back row.

Soren's team. Soren is first on the bottom row.

Sterling in the awesome Beatboxing showcase. (Sadly, they didn't post the video on YouTube this year.)

The boys' cousin, Trevor, was at ReMix this year, too. He had a great experience and his team song, Maps, was really cool.

Trevor is second in the back row. 

My boys are sad it's over, but they still listen to the music regularly and are in touch with their team members. It's not something they'll soon forget and was the highlight of their summer! (...especially when you compare it to getting their wisdom teeth out the following week before leaving Utah. They had to drive the 1500-miles home on a liquid/soft food diet and a regular rotation of Tylenol and ibuprofen. lol. But that's another story....)

Sterling's Spring Recital: Praeludium from Partita No. 3 in E Major

Sterling started working on this piece in January. Right up to the end, he was worried he wouldn't be ready. There are a lot of 16th notes, like the whole piece. It's fast and it has plenty of tricky parts, but if you ask me, he nailed it.

So enjoy Praeludium from Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach/Kreisler. It's a good one!

Maximum Forte sings "The Greatest Show"

Sterling is a member of his high school a cappella group, Maximum Forte. Last weekend they competed in the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) Midwest Quarterfinals in St. Louis. They competed against ten other teams from high schools in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois.

Here is a video of the third and last song in their set, "The Greatest Show," from The Greatest Showman. This is my favorite of the three songs they performed.

The top two teams advance to the semifinals next month. Sterling's group got third place and they were really happy about that. They have a commitment that would have prevented them from competing in the next round of competition anyway so third was perfect for them. They were also awarded "Outstanding Choreography" for "The Greatest Show."

This is a great bunch of kids and I'm excited to see where they go from here!

Saying Goodbye...Again

We said goodbye to our beautiful Savannah this morning. She's on her way to the Missionary Training Center for a few weeks before heading to the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission for 18 months.

Savannah has been home from BYU for a month just waiting for this day. As hard as it was to say goodbye, I know she's ready which made it a lot easier to let her go. There is so much about Savannah that will contribute to her being an amazing missionary. She's funny and smart. She doesn't hold grudges. People feel safe with Savannah; she just loves everyone. She has an amazing testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and isn't shy about sharing it. We miss her already, but I know she's going to be just fine.

Over the last few weeks, Savannah and Sterling have been working together to record an A Cappella cover of "This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman. Sterling wrote the arrangement and the two of them laid down all 8 tracks. They finished it up just in time. It is admittedly amateur, but I think they did a great job!! It was fun and very satisfying as a mom to see them working so enthusiastically together to complete this fun project. :) Here you go:

High School Christmas Concert

The other day, I said I'd share a couple of videos from the High School Choir Christmas concert. I realized today that it's now or never if I want to get this done before Christmas!

Here are three of my favorite numbers.

Sterling had a solo in The First Noel, performed by the school a cappella group, Maximum Forte.



White Winter Hymnal is a song they got from Pentatonix. Maximum Forte learned the hand motions and it's so cool! I wish they were sitting farther back on the stage so we could see the whole group at once. They were sitting on stools really close to the audience so the camera was only able to get so much, but the sound alone makes this worth posting.



This last one is all the choirs combined, singing Variations on Jingle Bells. It's super fun. Soren is tucked behind someone near the front. Sterling is easily seen.

Opus 23 Concerto in G Major for Violin and Piano by J B Viotti

It's that time of year! Last week was filled with recitals, concerts and parties. It was a great week! I'll post a few of my favorite songs from the high school choir concert in a day or two. For now, here is Sterling's Violin Recital piece. He played it so well! Enjoy. :)

Sterling at ReMix

In August, I mentioned that Sterling attended ReMix Vocal Academy at BYU during the summer. It's a pretty intense and amazing A Cappella camp, run by the director of BYU's Vocal Point. There were about 120 kids at ReMix that week (session B). They were all divided into 8 different groups. Sterling was on the Blue Team.

The final concert was pretty cool! It started off with all 120 kids for the intro "Unpack Your Heart." You can't see Sterling in this video, but he was there and he was a beatboxer during this number.



That was great, but it wasn't my favorite. After the opener, each group did their own number. Sterling's group sang "There's A Place For Us," by Carrie Underwood. Again, Sterling was the beatboxer. I think he sounds pretty good!!



That was great, but it wasn't my favorite. During the concert, they had a few beatboxers come out for a demo. Sterling (in blue) was selected to participate along with a Red Team member and one of the counselors (in green).


Okay, that was awesome and was definitely one of my favorites! We all loved it and the audience was going crazy. It was pretty cool! :)

The final number was a Mashup and Sterling was the second soloist.


That piece was a favorite as well. There was so much energy and you could tell these kids had worked hard and were having a great time out there!

Sterling loved his experience at ReMix and can't wait to return - along with Soren - next summer. We're all looking forward to it! :)

Be the One

This video really speaks for itself. We love Gentri and the positive messages they so beautifully articulate through their music. Enjoy!

Tshotsholoza

We are 10 days into our summer break and enjoying every minute!

I had grand intentions for my blog during May, but between recitals, concerts, church functions, graduation and celebrations, our calendar was CRAZY! Blogging definitely took a backseat. I know myself well enough to not make any promises for June, but I'm hoping to post more consistently. We've had lots of happiness around here!

For now, enjoy Soren's shining moment from his middle school choir concert last month. It's a fun African song and I think he did a great job! :)

Let It Be

Gentri posted this sweet song just in time for Mother's Day. I didn't know the story behind this popular Beatles' song until I watched this video (read the text at the start), but it's pretty good advice from a mother to her son. And the song is so much more meaningful now that I know the inspiration behind it. Of course, the men from Gentri sing with such beautiful harmonies that it just adds to the message.

Happy Mother's Day!

You Will Be Found

It's always a great day when BYU's Vocal Point releases a new video! I accidentally stumbled upon this a few days ago and then purchased the song. :) It's a good one.

Violin Recital: Rondo

Jeff's parents drove out from Idaho last week to see Spencer and Sterling in Guys and Dolls. They planned on leaving early this morning for Colorado to see more grandkids, but we were able to talk them into staying an extra day for Sterling's violin recital.

Boy, was it worth it!!!

Sterling played the Kreisler arrangement of Mozart's Rondo. It was AMAZING!!

I hope you love it! (It made me cry.)

Guys and Dolls

The high school production of Guys and Dolls this weekend was amazing! The boys were gamblers: Spencer played Harry the Horse and Sterling was Scranton Slim. I wish you could have seen the Crapshooters Ballet; it was my favorite scene!

One thing our little town consistently does well is musicals. Every spring, we are wowed by a quality production. Music is a high priority and the stigma that exists in some areas isn't as present here.

We've had at least one of our kids in eight different high school productions over the years - including the year Sam and Savannah were in The Music Man as 5th and 6th graders - and we have six more years to look forward to. I'm telling you, it doesn't get much better than this at the high school level.

We're sad to see it end, but we're counting our blessings that our kids have such great opportunities here in Small Town, Illinois.

Just look at those suits! All the gamblers had on wildly colorful suits. I love it!

Just for fun, here's a list of the musicals our kids have been in at the high school...
The Music Man (Sam and Savannah)
Oklahoma (Sam)
Honk! (Sam and Savannah)
Anything Goes (Sam and Savannah)
South Pacific (Sam, Savannah and Spencer)
Bye Bye Birdie (Savannah, Spencer and Soren)
Shrek the Musical (Spencer; Sterling played in the pit)
Guys and Dolls (Spencer and Sterling)