A Beautiful Concert at Night

Just like the one The Washerwoman attended, we had a concert of local talent on Wednesday night. It was a great night for it, one of the first really warm ones of this delayed summer. The event was organised by the wonderful Marlene, who sings, runs the choir and teaches piano, and her fiancé David, who is our boys' piano teacher, and also the technical wizard of the local music scene.

We got started at 9pm (ish), as usual. The swifts were flying low down around the Mairie, but we knew they'd quickly be replaced by bats.
The view of the church changed from this,

to this.The moon rose.The younger children had finished playing their pieces (on the theme of 'Music from the Movies'), but were still there, cuddling up to their parents or running around the boulodrome behind us. Finally, just before 11pm, the bigger piano pupils began to play their film music. Son 1 played the Raiders March, from the Indiana Jones films. It went down well! David had organised some special features on the keyboard, which made the piece sound very orchestral.

A few pianists later, Son 1 was on, and played his 'Comptine d'un autre été : l'après-midi', a very atmospheric piece from a French film. It was his 13th birthday - he enjoyed the concert as a great end to a big day!

A really special night was had by all. Most of the pianists were not perfect by any means, and there were some technical hitches for the singers, but the atmosphere was supportive and tolerant of errors, appreciating the effort and wanting to encourage the musicians.

j

So what a great week we're having! My interviews went well, by the way, and I have also had some thrifty luck of a very practical nature. In addition we have great news on the education front - Son 2 will be allowed to stay down a year at school (he was a year ahead of his English peers up until now) which should really help him to relax and enjoy his secondary school life. This has been a difficult year for him and us, but now we can all breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the summer.

j

I hope we can share it with you!