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Introduction
This past Saturday, April 1st, we had our second annual Late Patrick’s Day Piano Party. I’ve typically held a springmusic festival warm-up event, but it was only recently that I added the fun components. This year, an extremely warm sunny day plus a lack of written communication from me meant that we had fewer participants than normal. Those that attended seemed to have fun.
Anish was the only one to complete the unpublished Late Patrick’s Day Challenge. I had an elaborate scheme in mind that was just a bit too much to accomplish this year!
Sessions for Younger and Older Kids
Like our Valentine’s Day event, which didn’t get a blog post this year, we did two separate hour-long sessions. For the younger kids, I do a balance of performing and music board games, whereas the emphasis for the older kids is on playing. I am a member of Vibrant Music Teaching, which makes hundreds of fun learning games available. I had Beethoven’s Bucket Dunk ready to go, even though only a couple of kids got a chance to play.
Let’s Make a Deal!
In order to add a little Irish trickery, I offered Let’s Make a Deal using the Big Deal concept that has been discussed at length by mathematicians. I offered three choices, two of which were zonks and one of which was a gift card to Andy’s Frozen Custard. I randomly selected Hadley to play the Big Deal, and she chose Anvi as the alternate to win if she picked the wrong option.
I chose a Chipotle bag, and a tiny paper box, and a medium-sized box as the three choices. Hadley chose the Chipotle bag with the zonk pencils, and stayed with that choice even after I offered her the chance to switch after revealing the medium-sized box containing zonk hymn books. Even though Anvi won the gift card by default, I sent Hadley away with all of the leftover Hershey chocolate bards from our Valentine’s Day Piano Party.
Playing
I normally don’t make recordings during parties, because they’re meant to be fun, unpolished events. I couldn’t help but to record this impromptu recording, though!
Pictures
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In addition to the pictures here, you’ll find additional pictures on the Piano Studio Photo Gallery page. It’s a new feature that I’m trying; please let me know if you like it!
Final Thoughts
It was a lot of fun to prepare for and hold this party, even though I wasn’t able to execute all of the elaborate plans in my head. One of the things that just slipped by was sharing some traditional music by the Kilfenora Ceili Band, along with some activities to better understand the music. There’s always next year, and maybe I’ll find my four-leaf clover by then!