Elliott Yamin is Gonna Be Upstaged!

Thirty kids from all around the Richmond area are practicing hard for their moment in the spotlight at the Central Virginia Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Gala on March 1. (See our main page for a video of a recent rehearsal. Don't they sound great?)

They'll be sharing the spotlight, and the microphone, with some dude named Elliott Yamin. But for the kids I talked to before a rehearsal last week, being on stage with the "American Idol" star was less significant than the fact they're getting to sing their hearts out with others who share their experience of being a kid with Type 1 diabetes.

Baylee, 10, was just diagnosed in August. Her mother said she has endured some weird looks and teasing in school when she has to prick herself to monitor her blood sugar levels. She was so happy to get involved in JDRF and find out that she's not the only one in that situation.

When I asked Baylee who she'd be singing with at the gala, she said, "A lot of other kids!" "Anyone else?" I asked. She looked at her mom, trying to remember the name of that other guy. "Oh yeah, Elliott Yamin," she said.

Kendal, 7, seemed a little nervous about remembering all the words to the song, but she said she had been going over them and practicing hard.

Samantha is 7 now and was diagnosed when she was 2 years old. She wears an insulin pump, which means that her dosage of insulin to correct her blood sugar levels is regulated by the pump. She and Savannah, 8, were both very matter-of-fact as they told me about what the pump does.

Cole, 7, has hope that a cure for diabetes will be found. He says he wants to be able to eat candy like other kids.

Many of the kids had glamorous accessories, to go with the gala's theme: "Lights, Camera, Take Action!" Click on the link if you'd like to take action and learn more about JRDF or attend the gala!

We Went, We Played, We Conquered!

Richmond Symphony's "Come and Play" concert was a fabulous success, at least from my perspective from somewhere in the middle of 36 cellists! Emily, who sat across the arena among nearly 200 violinists, was thrilled, too. She had put a good bit of effort into practicing music that was challenging for her, and reported after the concert that she had only gotten totally lost on the last piece.

In addition to the fun of making and hearing music, the concert provided a way for people to support music in Richmond Public Schools. Registration fees and donations at the door are being matched by the Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment to repair and purchase instruments for kids in school music programs.

For my original column about the Come and Play concert, see the December 07 "First Thoughts."

Review: "Pincus and the Pig"

Several years ago, the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra worked with children's author/illustrator Maurice Sendak to write a Jewish adaptation of "Peter and the Wolf." Sendak retold the story and drew the characters, and Shirim klezmerized Prokofiev's music. The result, "Pincus and the Pig," is truly an all-ages audience pleaser. The piece is available as a recording, but seeing it live is a thrill.

Shirim performed at the Modlin Center's Camp Concert Hall on Sunday, Dec. 2, to a nearly full house. Our seats in the center of the third row gave us an excellent view of the band--clarinet, trombone, piano, banjo, tuba and drums--though it may not have been acoustically the best place, as Emily and I agreed it was hard to hear the banjo and piano. A screen above the performers showed Sendak's illustrations during the "Pincus" piece.

The band opened with three traditional klezmer tunes, the kind that electrify the seat cushion, so that anyone who thought they were coming for a little bit of storytime and music would realize, happily, that they were mistaken.

Then Shirim performed five pieces from their "Klezmer Nutcracker," which does to Tchaikovsky's famous piece what Weird Al Yankovic does to... well, to just about any over-played pop song. I loved the woozy "Dance of the Latkes Queen." The interpretations weren't all just musical inside jokes--they were at times even gorgeous and jazzy on their own merit--but I think Helen and Emily got a little tired of the set.

As the main event, "Pincus and the Pig" serves up "Peter and the Wolf" with extra Yiddish on top. From the introduction that identifies each character with an instrument to the triumphant procession at the end, with the duck inside the wolf/pig, "Pincus" follows its model closely. This lets listeners familiar with the original put the oy in enjoy by listening for the Yiddish words throughout the text and anticipating the klezmer twists to the music.

I thought the duck as trombone took some getting used to, but the cat as banjo and grandfather as tuba were perfect. Susan Watts, the narrator, was fabulous, especially as the excitable bird.

Helen, who hadn't known the story at all before today, had a hard time following along, but she understood exactly why, as the littlest animal, the bird was so high-strung. (She also picked up on the moods of the music and would ask, "Why is this music sad?" or "Why is this music loud?" when she needed me to fill her in on the story.)

After the performance, Emily had a hard time articulating what she liked about the show. She said she liked the lighting effects (simple and kind of random, I thought) and how the narration and the music overlapped sometimes, then she tried to explain what she liked about the klezmer music. Finally, she simply said, "I liked how the notes sounded."

What more is there to say?