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Yesterday was a musical day.
One of the families in the neighborhood organized caroling for the kids. We met in the gazebo in the park and they brought printed lyrics and jingle bells for the kids. (They did a buffet afterwards, but we weren't able to join.) It was really sweet--about ten or fifteen families showed up. I love that our neighborhood does this kind of stuff.
ARR was...confused. But game. He spent most of the time ringing his bells and spinning in circles, but he seemed to have a good time. And he seems to have picked up some familiarity with "Jingle Bells"--he knows where the "hey!" part goes.
Later that night, I went to a piano concert at the Park Avenue Armory. They do really fascinating things in that space. This was a concert of water-themed Impressionist pieces. But they started with just two pianos in the center of a nearly football-field sized space. The chairs ringed the floor, on a slight elevation. The doors closed, and everyone got quiet...and nothing happened. For a really long time. And then you realized that water was very slowly welling up through the floorboards. (Not where the chairs were.) Gradually, it spread across the floor until the entire center was filled with an inch or two of water, which perfectly reflected the arched ceiling so it felt as if you were suspended in an endless cylinder. The lights very gradually, imperceptibly dimmed until it was almost complete darkness. The very slow, very deliberate footsteps of the pianist making her way the length of the building through the water echoed out. It was kind of unsettling, and weirdly fascinating.
The actual concert was lovely, although of an entirely different feeling--more just incredibly tranquil and lovely. I kind of expected them to do more with the water during the performance, though--once it was there, that was it. It was just there and now someone was sitting in the middle playing the piano. I felt like there should have been something involving ripples or lighting or something. Still, it was an interesting evening.
Also, their holiday decorations, predominantly magnolia leaves in enormous swags around birch trunks, smelled fantastic.
One of the families in the neighborhood organized caroling for the kids. We met in the gazebo in the park and they brought printed lyrics and jingle bells for the kids. (They did a buffet afterwards, but we weren't able to join.) It was really sweet--about ten or fifteen families showed up. I love that our neighborhood does this kind of stuff.
ARR was...confused. But game. He spent most of the time ringing his bells and spinning in circles, but he seemed to have a good time. And he seems to have picked up some familiarity with "Jingle Bells"--he knows where the "hey!" part goes.
Later that night, I went to a piano concert at the Park Avenue Armory. They do really fascinating things in that space. This was a concert of water-themed Impressionist pieces. But they started with just two pianos in the center of a nearly football-field sized space. The chairs ringed the floor, on a slight elevation. The doors closed, and everyone got quiet...and nothing happened. For a really long time. And then you realized that water was very slowly welling up through the floorboards. (Not where the chairs were.) Gradually, it spread across the floor until the entire center was filled with an inch or two of water, which perfectly reflected the arched ceiling so it felt as if you were suspended in an endless cylinder. The lights very gradually, imperceptibly dimmed until it was almost complete darkness. The very slow, very deliberate footsteps of the pianist making her way the length of the building through the water echoed out. It was kind of unsettling, and weirdly fascinating.
The actual concert was lovely, although of an entirely different feeling--more just incredibly tranquil and lovely. I kind of expected them to do more with the water during the performance, though--once it was there, that was it. It was just there and now someone was sitting in the middle playing the piano. I felt like there should have been something involving ripples or lighting or something. Still, it was an interesting evening.
Also, their holiday decorations, predominantly magnolia leaves in enormous swags around birch trunks, smelled fantastic.
