M had her first highschool concert band performance on Veteran's day.
M will be in a Christmas parade on Saturday. She read "No Santa hats or costumes" to mean that her fabulous sweater would be a problem. I assured her that nobody was going to be confused by the cat and dog wearing hats on her sweatshirt, and think that she was santa.
M participates in the Public Servants club in connection with the Homeland Security class she is taking. She has Geometry, English, Biology, Band, Global Perspectives (history) and 3D Art as well. She takes piano lessons and is juggling all these things very well, I think? Schoology says otherwise but M assures us that it is an issue with the grades not being put in at the same date as the due date.
M has been in 2 competitions with the marching band so far. They are doing better each time. She's seen other shows and is enjoying hanging out with the other kids.
One of the current fads is metal water bottles with stickers. M has enjoyed participating in this fad. She recently bought a huge pack of stickers and is happily sorting and making plans. I think it's a pretty great way to share happiness and a novelty with friends. It's way better than the gummy bracelets of the 80s.
M is in 7 classes: Art, Criminal Justice, Geometry, Biology, History, English and Band. She is also in the marching band that takes 12 hours a week, piano lessons 4 hours a week, YW, seminary, and teaches B piano. She's crazy busy!
She's handling it all with poise. A lot of her classes want assignments turned in via schoology. The classes have a lot of material online so she doesn't have textbooks to take home. I think she really likes having daily in person classes. I worry for what it is like to suddenly have 10 teacher/adults making demands of her time. She seems to be doing good and was even interested in taking on the trivia club.
M had many days of band camp. They had a 3 day rookie camp. 5 day 7-3 camp. 5 day 4-8 camp. She ate a lot of "not dying ice cream".
M has been busy this summer. After our trip to NC, M had girls camp. Now she is doing 4 weeks of Counselor in Training at the Alligator Farm camp. Then she'll have 3 weeks of band camp. All the while she's teaching piano lessons and finishing Algebra. She starts High School full time in the fall.
For now she is in her happy place spending a lot of time with animals.
Here is M with the education director for the Alligator Farm camp. M had a great time and looks forward to doing the camp again next year.
Grandma and Grandpa gave M a gift certificate to the rock climbing gym for Christmas. Finally she was fully vaccinated, and had a free day to go and use it!
M was accepted as a Counselor in Training for the Alligator Farm summer camp. She's very excited. The application process was rigorous and I had her re-write the application several times. I'm glad that effort was rewarded with recognition.
M went to a spring football game for the High School and had a good experience playing in the stands. She plans to be in the marching band in the fall. It's a lot of time! Way more time than my high school experience. Way more time than our high schools that we taught at. The band is good though. That's nice to put the time in when the music is good.
M had her recital on May 8th. She played Bumble Boogie and blew away the audience with her double time twiddly bits. On May 15, P and M rode to Gtowne. M didn't seem to even break a sweat. Today she went to Jazz band then straight to the high school to participate in a spring football game pep band.
Busy times!
M finished Student Day virtually this year. She played 3 pieces and tested at level 5. She played Waltz in E minor, Bagatelle, and the second movement of Sonata in G Major. This Student Day program is intense and provides a challenge to keep advancing that is otherwise lacking for M.
This stuff is intense! She plays 3 pieces for a judge, then scales, Chord progressions, and Arpeggios. Then she plays a melody provided beforehand with harmonization that she adds. Then she is to play the piece in another key. I forgot about this harmonization piece last year and she was trying to prep it in a practice room before her audition. Then again this year I forgot it and had her prepping it the morning of the audition.
There is a 4 page theory test that covers similar level of knowledge. Major scales, relative minors. Chord progressions, identifying musical examples, and dictation. There is also an aural skill test on all this but from a listening perspective. It kind of blows my mind that she handles this with such poise and grace.
In other news... I decide Margot looks like Sharon Carter! I'm spooked by this.
M teaches her cousins piano weekly so she gets $50 a month from that. She is my ministering companion and today we went to visit a sister who has been asking me to help her find someone to help in her garden. I previously connected her with other youth in the ward but that didn't happen. So today I offered up my own able bodied children. M is pretty excited to have the opportunity to make more money. I'm glad for her to learn more skills.
M is such a talented and able young woman. She's crazy beautiful inside and out. She is polite and graceful, hilarious and her ninja skills are developing. I love this daughter.
She was recently asked to accompany the youth in singing "Gethsemane". She whipped out an accompaniment on the piano and within a day it was transcribed and polished. It's really nice. She's 13! I asked her how she came up with the accompaniment and she said it just sounded right. She uses inversions and arpeggios with an overall flow that is so sophisticated. She typed in the melody and lyrics into finale. I typed up what she had written down for the first page of the left hand and then filled out the 2nd page. She re-did all the second page because it wasn't what she was actually playing. I love that she improved her mastery of finale, harmony, and playing all in this project. The scope and time involved remind me of a classic Young Women's value project. Way to go M!
M participated in the recital for her piano studio and did a great job. She played the 2nd movement of the Beethoven Sonatina in Suzuki book 4 that she learned for student day. She also has a Chopin Waltz and Bagatelle by Tcherepnin. She learned these 3 pieces in less than 1 month and has been improving the style with which she plays. They aren't the hardest pieces she has played (Wedding Day and Puck being harder) but for the sake of learning them to do Student day, on the level 5 for theory, these were the best fit of music we had.
She might learn Clair De Lune and Bumble Boogie. When M likes a piece she devours it.
She memorized the 4th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1 day and now dad owes her a Milky Way.
