Redeux--My Talented Kids

Hola, friends,

Proud dad here, sharing mainly for family but also for anyone who wants to listen or view. The end of the school year is of course bringing all kinds of opportunities to celebrate our children. My lovely daughter, Miranda, received her school's annual Vocal Performance award in a school assembly this past week, and she sang at Convocation evening a beautiful song called "The Wish," from an anonymous poem, and accompanied by her much loved choral teacher, Ms. Judy Yeaworth. Of course, did I record it? Nope.

I did, however, have my digital camera with me today at Christ Church Cathedral's Youth Day celebration service, and I flipped it to video mode and set it down in the pew while she sang the same song, solo, this time accompanied by Michael Velting, the Cathedral's stellar organist and Choral Director. It's an odd recording in the sense that her solo picks up just as the first few rows of the large congregation are shuffling out to communion, and that gets louder as other rows follow. There are coughs, sneezes, and such as you'd hear in any big group of people; but somehow they just make the central lyrical performance that much more beautiful. I'll add the lovely lyrics as soon as I get them.

Enjoy, "The Wish," sung by Miranda Merrick, Sunday morning, May 18, 2008.

And far be it from me to spare my son from the spotlight, a location I feel he'll frequent often and long. Take a look at the wonderful year-end recital put on by Ma. Murphree's Creative Movement class. Colin's the last boy entering.

I'll doubtless brag more later :)

A Personal Post: My Stellar Children!

I don't do "personal" on my blog much, or at least beyond the fact that I take my teaching and my learning very personally ;)...

However, last night at the annual USN High School Cabaret Night my two children, Colin and Miranda, banded together onstage (in a rare inclusion of a 6th grader into a High School performance evening) to sing a song they wrote together. I gotta share. Their performance was introduced by a skit about the songwriting performed by the evening's spectacularly funny trio of emcees; so Miranda takes the opportunity to clear the air just before 12 year old Colin hits the first chord to start the song. When he does, a funny thing happens.

I'm sooo proud of my urchins, pleased with Colin's progress in voice guitar (he's more accomplished at 12 than I was at 16!) and, as always, proud and amazed at my daughter's voice. Her instrument is her voice, and she plays a mean piano as well. Here's a promo picture of Miranda, flanked by two of our talented HS Chorus' young men:

Listen to "Without You," by Colin Merrick and Miranda Merrick, unveiled in public at University School the evenin' of April 3, 2008. Enjoy!

Miranda also performed a favorite of mine, Stardust, accompanied by Ben Easton on grand piano, then led the chorus into a beautiful rendition of Somewhere, from West Side Story. My audio may not be the best in the world, but my daughter is. Not that I'm biased. Enjoy...