Caleb's Piano Recital

Tonight was Caleb's "Pops" piano recital. "Pops" as in popular music, not as in popsicles, as some three year olds might infer. This evening, I listened to talented and not-so-talented children of various ages perform a wide range of musical selections.If you haven't been to an amateur piano recital recently (or ever) let me tell you what you are missing out on. Here were some of my thoughts about the performances:

I listened to an extremely speedy version of Eleanor Rigby. In fact, it got faster and faster as it progressed, lending a certain panicky aspect to the song that made me want to get up and run out of the sanctuary, picking up imaginary rice as I scurried out to die alone. (It's a very upbeat song.)

I listened to TWO different Star Wars themes: the main theme, and the Imperial March. This bored me because the Imperial March is the latest tune Ben sings while on the toilet, so I hear it several times a day.

One talented thirteen year old played a medley from the Phantom of the Opera. This is an excellent song choice for raucous piano students who enjoy pounding on the keyboard. As he played the main theme, I could totally tell he wanted to skip all the gooey love songs in the middle and me thought to meself, pound away, my friend, and I will provide that high note at the end.

One young man played James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover." Really. He was thirteen. (I know!)

One little girl played "Take me Out to the Ballgame." This was toward the beginning of the recital, actually, and was not even close to the seven-inning stretch.

Caleb played the most popular song of all, "Old MacDonald." This is actually an appropriate song. When he was one years of age, he would sing eeee iiiii eeee iiiii ohhhhh! in perfect pitch randomly throughout the day or suddenly, in the dead of night... He sang these vowels before he spoke any words.

Caleb also took to calling McDonalds Restaurant "Old MacDonald's Restaurant." He still calls it that, actually. I never corrected him. He's going to be seventeen one day and his buddies are going to ask him if he wants to grab a burger and he's going to say, let's go to Old MacDonald's, and they're going to look at him funny.

Caleb is a recital pro. He marches up without fear and plays with confidence. He doesn't get sweaty hands while he waits his turn (like his mother used to... she also used to shred toilet paper and get nervous hiccups) and he doesn't get upset if he makes a mistake. He concentrates and continues and takes an exacting bow when finished. And he always greets me with a grin afterwards because he knows we're gonna grab some ice cream. (I only had a bite, of course, because the rocks in my tummy are causing me grief today.)

I enjoyed watching Caleb enjoy his Heavenly Hash ice cream- with chocolate syrup and cool whip and oh Lord I wanted some more really bad- and am as always, very, very proud of him. Perhaps we should get him a dog. He deserves it.