Spring Music Recital: Japan & Norway edition - Eva Varga

April 12, 20145

We enjoyed the children’s spring music recital yesterday.  Students ranging from 5 to 18 years in age performed pieces they have been working on the past few months.  It was a delightful concert, as always.

spring recitalI love how hearing one another inspires them to work harder. Many times, they also discover new songs they too would like to learn.  It is also a wonderful way to share their growing music skills in a comfortable setting – allowing them to develop public speaking and presentation skills as well.

Sweetie performed a song from a Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli movie. The title is in Japanese Kanji, however, so we are not yet certain what song it is.  Sweetie thinks it is from Castle in the Sky.  If you know, please enlighten us!! 🙂

Edited 14 April 2014:  Thank you to Emily who shared in a comment that the violin piece was from the forest theme in My Neighbor Tortoro.  From there, we further learned that it is 風のとおり道  (Path Of The Wind).



Buddy performed Ja Vi Elsker, Norway’s unofficial national anthem. He also performed it at the lodge in March, substituting for our regular pianist who had had shoulder surgery.  He was very proud.

The words for the national anthem, written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, one of Norway’s great dramatists and poets, were first published in 1859. The music was composed by Rikard Nordraak, a cousin of Bjørnson and a friend of the famed Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, in 1864. It was first performed later that year for the 50th anniversary of their constitution.


5 comments

  • Emily

    April 12, 2014 at 10:17 pm

    It’s the wind forest theme from My Neighbour Totoro, my favourite Miyazaki movie of all time 🙂

    I love recitals!

  • Shawn Yang

    April 12, 2014 at 10:23 pm

    Both Buddy and Sweetie played so well, they are making progress. 🙂 I also noticed the quality of the video is very clear. Did you use the NEX?

    • Eva Varga

      April 14, 2014 at 7:23 am

      Yep! Patrick used the lens you recommended. He was very happy with the result. 谢谢!

  • Paola Collazo

    April 14, 2014 at 11:22 am

    Thanks for sharing Eva. I am so sorry to hear of your family’s loss. Both your children are so talented, I love how well rounded you have them. Congratulation!

  • Pingback: Growing a Musician in 3 Easy Steps - Eva Varga

Comments are closed.


%d bloggers like this: