Just back in from the Christmas Concert. Ciaran was performing with the Wind Ensemble.
Talk about mixed emotions.
I got a phone call just after 1400 from the school - Ciaran was complaining about feeling ill. He has been off his food for the past few days and I had sent him to bed early Monday night which he did without arguing. He said he was feeling hot with an upset stomach but conceded it may have been nerves. He actually went back to class for the end of the day.
He was nervous when we arrived for the start but said it was more about the heat and we didn't suggest it may be butterflies.
The concert consisted of choirs, brass band, Ciaran's wind group, a fiddle band, and the local BB drummers.
I have heard the combined schools orchestra practice and they were pretty good so I'm not sure what we were expecting but after noticing about 10 spelling mistakes in the programme, including Ciaran's name, the year, "Bach" I was not inspired.
I was right.
But its not really fair to be critical since I don't play or sing. One of the choirs sang Fur Elise - I didn't even know there were lyrics for that. At least you could hear them. The other choir was accompanied by piano, bass and drum, but were virtually drowned out by the music.
The wind ensemble didn't have a conductor so the music teacher who was also playing an oboe was bobbing up and down, like a snake charmer, keeping time. They did sound good though. I was nervous for Ciaran as I don't think his breathing method is right and he was getting redder and redder as the pieces progressed.
The drummers were fantastic - they put on a good show with spinning drumsticks and playing each others drum. The only other highlight was "O Holy Night". Two girls sang this and it was beautiful.
The last weird thing was the raffle. In order not to delay our leaving they decided not to announce the winners and have the usual come up and collect your prize. Instead they drew the prizes during the second half and we had to check the results ourselves on the way out. Naturally massive jam on the way out.
