Double Bar LInes

For all you non-musicians out there, the double bar line means you are at the end of the song. For me right now it means that the class is finished, the recital is finished, and the juice and cookies are finished.

Some students played pianisimo, some played mezzo forte, and a couple played forte. Some played andante when they should have played lento, some played...oh you get the picture. I can't think of enough musical terms to describe it. I worked and worked with those who were playing eighth notes, explaining the relationship between quarter notes and eighth notes. "Eighth notes are two times faster than the quarter notes. You cannot play the simple quarter notes fast and then slow down for the eighth notes. If you can't play the eighth notes faster then you must slow down the quarters." If I said it once, I said it 10 times. When it was M's turn you could tell she was extremely nervous. Her 3 youngest children were there to hear her for the first time. She announced that she was going to play "Away in a Manger." Throughout the song she made so many mistakes and corrected them that if you didn't know what she was playing you'd have had a hard time figuring it out. But when she was finished she was greeted with a wild round of applause. Later she asked her husband if he could tell she was playing "Away in a Manger." He said, "Well, you told us what you were going to play." She laughed hilariously at herself for quite a while.

When I called for R to come play I asked him what he was going to play and he replied, "The Falling Bridge." Aaron laughed very hard as did we all. Two of his friends had come to hear him and he played "London Bridge is Falling Down" exceptionally.

Dr. Z had learned the melody of "Amazing Grace" from the printed page and then came up with own version. I had showed him how to play a C Chord with his left hand to end the piece and he ended with a flourish by playing it 3 times.

He and the other man who played Amazing Grace said they needed the grace of God to be able to play.

Things at the campus will now be very legato until the middle of August when the Church Conference starts. I'll finish up in the library, and Aaron will continue with his carpentry. Our flat needs some attention. The stress is over for awhile.

We've been asked to come back to Namibia next year after we finish up in Botswana. We'd be here for 2 weeks and I'd teach the music class again.