Monday, January 9, 2023

Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'

Owen performs with a song and dance group at school called Outburst.  For the finals in that class, the kids each have to sing a solo in front of their class.  He had to pick a song from a musical for the fall final, so he chose to sing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma.  He asked me to play the piano for his song.  That may be the first time a student's mom has accompanied on the piano.  I was a little nervous playing for his final, hoping I wouldn't mess him up if I hit a wrong note.  He was nervous too, but we did it and he did a good job.  Whew!  We thought we were done.  However... the teacher thought we were a cute duo, so she asked Owen to sing at the winter concert, which was in front of a large audience!  Prior to this class, Owen had never sung a solo before.  He was even hesitant to practice with me and in front of his family.  I don't know how he got the courage to sing in front of his class, and I don't know how he pulled out even more courage to sing in front of 400 people.  His teacher must be good at instilling confidence in them - definitely pushing them beyond their comfort zone.  He did well - he doesn't have an amazing voice, but I was in awe of his courage and how much he had improved from the first time we practiced the song.  It was fun to watch his other group songs.  He had to learn a lot of dance moves along with the songs.  Owen has made several friends as well, so it's been a fun thing for him this year. 

I got to sit in on the rehearsals, so I did sneak a couple video clips of a few songs. Owen helped me get a recording from the You Tube Video of his solo and edit out his name.  I didn't know how that was possible, but these young people are pretty good with tech stuff.  Then I just needed to compress it to under 100 mb for posting on here. 

                                             





                                                                                           Owen and his teacher




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