But getting back to the surprise.<\/p>\n
As we entered the big party room, I heard music coming through the crowd ..sweet music with sweet young voices singing \u201cOver the rainbow.\u201d\u00a0 As I made my way over to find who was responsible, this is what I saw.<\/p>\n
It was Zoey and two of her school mates. Not only was she singing like Judy Garland, she was playing the ukulele. The UKULELE?\u00a0 When in the heck did she learn to play that? And she was Good too..real good fingering and strumming complicated chords with ease. I was stunned to learn that she\u2019d been taking lessons at school since Easter..the last time we\u2019d seen her.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t help but remember the little plastic ukulele I received for Christmas when I was about ten. After learning how to properly tune the four strings (My Dog Has Fleas) I practiced and practiced discovering a love for making music that changed my life and continues to this day.<\/p>\n But the evening held another musical surprise.<\/p>\n Zoey\u2019s mom eventually asked her to bring out the viola.<\/p>\n Now, Suzan has sent me short clips of Zoey\u2019s recital performances and it was fun to hear that she had advanced to more difficult pieces and started incorporating vibrato with her left hand on the strings. But I wasn\u2019t prepared for what I heard next.<\/p>\n After \u00a0her last private concert in our living room Easter Sunday, I requested that she learn a favorite tune for grandpa; “Ashokan Farewell”..the hauntingly beautiful violin theme written by Jay Unger and Molly Mason used extensively throughout Ken Burns marvelous PBS documentary, “The Civil War.” \u00a0I even found the music on-line and sent it to her.<\/p>\n Well, I was enjoying (marveling really) at how good she had gotten in the past six months as she played a couple of complicated pieces. Then my jaw dropped. I knew from the first three notes what was coming. \u201cAshokan Farewell!\u201d\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how amazing it was. As her bow crossed the strings and her left hand coaxed out every note perfectly, she swayed and her eyebrows lifted just like all great fiddlers do when they actually feel the music.<\/p>\n I was so delighted and proud at what I was hearing, I giggled and wept simultaneously.<\/p>\n She has kindly consented to playing that song again and again when they\u2019re home for Christmas and thought it would be okay if grandpa accompanied her on guitar. So the pressure is on for me to learn the chords and adjust to the pain in my fingertips until calluses develop. It\u2019ll be worth it, though and I can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n Move ahead a few days. We\u2019re at the new Susan B. Anthony elementary school to see and hear great granddaughter, Ella perform in concert..both with the band (she\u2019s just taken up tenor saxophone) and in the honor chorus. I remember when my own girls played and sang in those early school concerts and, like the band in \u201cMusic Man\u201d parents have a way of filtering out any sour notes..hearing only the unbelievable talent of their own kids. \u00a0Such it was for Ella the other night as the band played their three or four two and three- note songs.<\/p>\n But there was no need for imagining when she joined her peers in song.<\/p>\n Best photo I could get with my dumb phone cam. Ella is in the center just right of the director’s head.<\/p><\/div>\n They were just wonderful.<\/p>\n Seeing Ella up there singing \u201cYou\u2019ve got a friend in me\u201d from \u201cToy Story\u201d I lost it again.<\/p>\n She is such a remarkable kid. \u00a0I can\u2019t help bragging on her.<\/p>\n Finally, if you\u2019ll indulge me for one more.<\/p>\n There was music surrounding our other great grandchild this past week. The birthday song for Jack..who turned a year old on Wednesday.<\/p>\n![\"grandpa](\"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/files\/2015\/11\/grandpa-blog-zoey.jpg\")
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