Ethan's Piano Recital

Ethan has a new piano teacher who is in our ward.  She is really good and is very laid back so it suits Ethan's personality really well.  He had been working for a couple of months on 2 Christmas songs to play at their recital ("Silent Night" and "I Saw Three Ships").  They were more difficult arrangements but he had worked on them and they sounded really good.

The night of the recital came and I had Grandma and Grandpa Pack on Skype so they could hear Ethan play.  He had practiced these songs right before we left home and had done really well.  He said he wasn't nervous at all.

He sat down, began his first song and then lost his place.  They were memorized so he didn't have the music with him.  Ethan plays more by ear than by note (a problem we have been working on for years) and the piano was out of tune.  He couldn't find his spot or get back on.  He struggled with the song for quite a while before I asked the husband of his teacher if he could just move on.  I felt so bad for Ethan because he had the song down before we showed up.

So they had him start "I Saw Three Ships" which is a song he really enjoys playing.  I think by that time he was just too upset.  He started off great but lost it again.  Poor kid was so embarrassed.  His teacher finally said he could sit down.  He was really upset.

After the recital, Bryan took Ethan to the car while Courtney and I finished up.  I grabbed Ethan's certificate and treat and then we were off.  I took him to ice cream later and he was doing better.  We told him we were very proud of him and the way he handled it.

His piano teacher is in our ward and she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him at Church on Sunday.  Her husband had talked to Bryan and I during Church and we told him that they just needed to treat Ethan normally and not make a big deal of it.  After Church, the piano teacher called me asking if she could go over and talk to Ethan.  I told her she absolutely could and that he would probably like that.

She came over with a bag of pretzel M&Ms to give to him and told him how proud she was of him.  He handed everything so well and she apologized for not stepping in to help him sooner.  It was really great of her and it made him feel so good to know that she cared about him.

And, he was going to have another opportunity to redeem himself....he was scheduled to play the songs at our Ward Christmas Party the next Saturday.