The Steel Wheels

Rain in the Valley by The Steel Wheels from Stephen Kniss on Vimeo.


Here they are.  The Steel Wheels.

Here in the Lansing area, there's a group called Ten Pound Fiddle.  During nine months of the year they bring in country/blues/bluegrass/folk music groups and individuals for concerts weekly.  We've gone to hear our favorite Michigan singers, but haven't ventured outside that sphere.

When I got the Ten Pound Fiddle email last week, I clicked on the video and after watching, decided we had to try it out.  Joseph and I took Nathan to this concert on Friday.  Trent Wagler and the Steel Wheels are phenomenal!  I love seeing/hearing live music and hearing the stories behind the songs and into the artists' lives.

I love the music video of one of the last songs the group sang Friday evening.  Trent told the story of his grandpa who grew up Amish.  As you probably know, the Amish are not allowed to play music instruments, except the harmonica.  Trent's grandfather loved music and had an underground Amish group.  He eventually left the Amish because of his love of music, among other things.

The song is called Red Wing.  It is also endeared to me for having a bird in it:

Concerts galore!

We've gotten to attend some phenomenal concerts recently.  I feel so lucky about the programs our kids are involved in.  The teachers and directors have got to be some of the best there are out there.

First off, we attended the Spring Choir Concert.  Sariah finished up her year in Cantabile and has already been accepted into the next choir called CMS Singers.  She worked hard this year because she knew that CMS Singers sing more challenging music and they sometimes get to go on little trips around the state.  Congratulations Sariah.  Elijah and May will continue singing in MSU Children's Choir.  Their choir has taken huge strides this year and are sounding incredible together.  Nathan's Young Men's Chorus got to work with MSU's A-cappella group, the Acafellas, which has been a dream of mine for him.  They sounded phenomenal.  The three older kids are rewarded with a week of choral camp in Ithaca, New York with other choirs and choir directors, staying with host families.

Next, we attended Nathan's Orchestra concert.  Nathan's orchestra teacher and his intern do astounding things with the orchestra and the concerts are always enjoyable.  It's no secret that I love the sound of the cello and Nathan and his cello cohorts always provide great sound at the concerts.

Sariah had her first jump rope show this year!  Like May, Sariah didn't know much about jumping rope when she started with the Jump Rope Club.  By the end of the year, she was jumping like a pro and plans to continue with the club next season.

Brigham and Sariah performed songs and dances tonight at Red Cedar's annual International Festival of Cultures.  Mrs. Melissa Sigh is an amazing elementary music teacher (Elijah has her for orchestra this year in fifth grade too!)  The kids learned songs in several languages and my favorite dance was performed by the third grade class.  It was an Indian Dance with music in the background and a chant by the kids (I should post a video of this, but they take so darn long to upload).

Mrs. Sigh writes grant proposals so that she can pay for amazing Michigan musicians to accompany the kids' singing.  We are so lucky.  This was Brigham's first year and I'm so proud of both Brigham and Sariah for learning so many songs and performing them.  Our school has kids from many nations who speak many languages.  They wear clothing from their countries of origin and do this musical event every year!

May also had her final band concert for the year tonight and I was sad to miss it.  She continues to enjoy flute and Joseph and Nathan both told me that the seventh grade band was better than the eighth grade band.  Go 7th Graders!!

Elijah plays the viola and his first orchestra concert is next week.  The night is open so that the whole family can enjoy that.

The four oldest kids have recently started taking art classes from their teacher named Stormi.  They all love her and all four of them have begun painting masterpieces.  They all want to work on birds almost every time they go to art.  Coming up soon, they will get to take part in sidewalk chalk art (you know those really cool 3D sidewalk art pictures?).  I can't wait to see what it looks like.  May also entered art into a contest at school.  I'll have to take some photos of their work and share it here

The final thing that's been going on is not a concert or a show.  Nathan is doing a big conservation/community benefit project at our local nature center.  So far we've put hours into service for the nature center and also a couple of hours a day doing point counts for birds around the part.  Nathan chose seven locations according to their varied ecology.  He goes to each location daily if he can and takes a five minute point count.  He's come a long way in identifying birds by sight, but also by ear.  It's great to see him work as I accompany him as often as I can.  We have made some cool discoveries of plants, butterflies, caterpillars, insects and mammals.  I thrive in the outdoors and it seems that Nathan does too.  Here are some photos of Nathan taking his point counts and a couple of the cool critters we've found lately (Mourning Cloak caterpillar and Painted Turtle).

Nathan is being given the opportunity (by Kalamazoo Nature Center) to come try out bird banding on the weekends.  If the guy who runs this is impressed with what Nathan can do, he'll let Nathan help out with Fall Migration bird banding.  This is an exceptional thing for Nathan to be a part of.  Go Nathan!

Good Use of Three Minutes

It is my belief that the world would be a better place if everyone were to take just three minutes to watch and listen to this segment of "The Magic Flute." It is called, "The Queen of the Night." I don't know what it means, but we are checking out a book from the library that will tell us what's going on. There are other versions out there, but this was our fav. ("Five star rating, without debate," says Nathan.) Here's another version by a talented little boy.



Marni is always a few steps ahead of me, but she's creating a great path for me to follow! I took this link from her blog post yesterday!

Sharing time

We already loved Inside-Out A cappella. Somehow, this group has succeeded in recording another album (my understanding is that they don't even all live in one state anymore). Before our trip out west, I ordered this new CD, called Sharing Time. We have all been bee-bopping to it ever since. Even my kids who won't sing in front of us, will sing to this CD. If you have Primary aged kids and haven't experienced "Primary Colors" or "Sharing Time," it's high time you did!

You hold my soul

I really like this a cappella group called Inside-Out A cappella. I put in their CD the other day called "So It Seems." There's a song on that CD with a line that says, "You hold my soul in your hand like water." I gave that line a lot of thought a some years ago in the crucible of my marriage relationship. Ideas are always easier than actual follow through, but I really tried to apply that idea.

Now later, I'm thinking about it in a little different way, applying to lots of things in life. I think it's all about balance. You can't hold on too tight or else you lose the water by squeezing it out. You have to hold on enough though so that the water doesn't seep through. It has to be done in a strong, but gentle way.

Food for thought!