Shaw Girl Happenings

After waking up to a beautiful sunny Vermont morning in our hosts' home, Katie & I headed back to the Green Mountain Suzuki Institute, refreshed and dry for the first time in several days. We scouted out several places to explore after classes on the drive. Here's Katie and CeCe practicing their duet at CeCe's house.



I'll share a bit about Katie's classes. Her first class, New Music, is with Vermont composer Dr. Sarah Doncaster. The class is collectively creating a piece based on Charles Ives' "Central Park in the Dark" with xylophones, drums, with a quote from the "Charlie Brown" theme woven together. Katie plays Charlie Brown and then pounds the keyboard with her forearms creating tone clusters while drums crescendo and xylophones trill. Very Ive-ish.




Next, Katie has composition class and works with Vermont composer Erik Nielson. She is composing a piece for the piano based on a major minor chord structure that she created. Perhaps, when it is finished, I can post it her for you to listen to.






After a lunch break, (we brown bag it under a tree) there are mini-recitals for 1/2 an hour, and then we are off to Taiko Drumming. I don't have many pictures of the class, as I joined in too! Taiko Drumming is from Japan and is highly choreographed, steeped with customs and traditions, and very challenging, yet really fun. Here, at the end of class, students were allowed to be "drum heads.


Then comes piano master class, and then piano 4-hands. Katie and I then head off back to our campground and hike, swim, or take a nap!

Labels: Katie, music, vacation