Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Talent Show -- April 11th

April 11th
Club 60
Preeceville, SK

When we were asked to participate in the talent show Club 60 was putting on for the community, of course we said yes. I like talent shows. They're fun. The audience is usually wonderful and, especially in small town Saskatchewan, supportive of anyone who comes onstage. You feel like you're just jamming in front of a group of friends. :-)

The Woodland Chorus -- wonderful singers!

There were nine other participates, among them Mark Dolton (singer), the Kosheluk family (musicians), The Woodland Chorus (old-tyme singers), Andrew Meroniuk (fiddler), Anhelina Havrylyuk (singer), Stella Holmes & Alina Havrylyuk (musicians/singers) and William Brown.

While picking music for this event, I knew right away what one of them would be. “The Old Rugged Cross” with Ellie on the fiddle, Hannah on the banjo, Lydia on Guitar and myself on piano makes for a unique and beautiful sound. I never thought a fiddle and banjo combination on this song would sound so nice. But it does. :-)

The K kids

Stella Holmes, who had helped organize the event, asked us to do a folk song. Until around six days before the event, I was stumped... we don't know many folk songs and... even fewer that we sing well. But we were looking through an old fiddle/folk/cowboy song book and found “Red River Valley”. I tried it on the piano and found that it had potential. Was I ever relieved! I had been praying very hard...

What was left was solved by Ellie and Ruth. Ellie figured out a fiddle medley that sounded great and that she and Zeke could both play on. Then, Ruth came to me, asking if we could do “I've Got the Joy”. We've done that song a million and one times but the kids still love it and the audience still loves it. In fact, after doing Club 60, a woman came up to me and asked if we would perform that song at their Cornfest in September at Okla. :-) I guess it's a hit.



Willie J., our mc of the afternoon and Hannah. He asked to sing the chorus of The Old Rugged Cross with us... after we'd finished the song. It was an honor to say yes. :-)

The time of practicing was an interesting experience. Some of you might remember my blog post awhile back about praying before each practice. Well, I must say that I had forgotten to pray the first couple of days and things were not going nicely. In fact, it was so stressful that we were all dreading practice times and I knew that our playing and singing were also being effected by the stress. So I decided that no matter what (God, please remind me!), I was going to pray before each practice time and really trust that He was going to take care of things. He did. :-)


The show went very well. We had put the songs together so we had lots of variety. Each song had a different group of people playing:

Fiddle Medley:
Joys of Quebec/Chinese Breakdown/Redwing

Zeke (fiddle)
Ellie (fiddle)
Hannah (banjo)
Lydia (guitar)
Naomi (piano)

The Old Rugged Cross:

Naomi (piano/singing)
Hannah (banjo/singing)
Ellie (fiddle)
Lydia (guitar)

Red River Valley:

Martha (singing harmony)
Hannah (singing melody)
Naomi (singing melody)
Ellie (fiddle)
Lydia (guitar)

I've Got the Joy:

Ruth (singing)
Uriah (singing)
Cilla (singing)
Lydia (guitar)
Ellie (fiddle)
Hannah (singing)
Naomi (singing)


Anhelina H.

Alina H.

The way the show was put together was ushers would pass ice-cream (4 litre) buckets down the aisles and people would say which performer they were donating money to. The performer with the highest amount of money raised was declared the winner. The three top money garners would receive 10% of the money they raised. 50% of the money went to the hospital, while the other 40% went for expenses.

The winners were thusly:
1: Kosheluk Family
2: Holter Family
3: Anhelina Havrylyuk

We were all thrilled to pieces to win 2nd place. :-) It was quite a surprise! Our 10% came to $18, so we get $2.25 apiece. Cilla was literally hugging herself in excitement... “This is the first time I've ever won anything! ...[thinks for a moment]... well, except for that halter I won.” (That happened 4 years ago... when she was 4 years old, but still a red-letter memory. :-))

Anyway, I just wanted to share the excitement with ya'll. If this post is boring to you, go ahead and skip it, now that you're finished. :-) :-)

Has anyone else out there competed with music? Family group or otherwise? What are some of your best memories with music? What are some of your favorite family groups to listen to?

4 comments:

bekah said...

So now that I am finally finished reading it, you tell me you won't be offended if I don't read it. :):):) Congrats on winning!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on 2nd place! It must be esp. exciting for the little ones too. I love the songs you picked and RRV is a classic here on the piano. =)

Laura said...

Hi Naomi
I just wanted to let you know that I just tagged you on my blog!
Go to sharinghislove-laura.blogspot.com
Can wait to see your answers!!
Blessings,
Laura

P.s. Congrats on winning 2nd place!

Anonymous said...

Congrats! :) And what fun you all had!!
That reminds how I often forget to pray before I drive and how it is something I should do. Because when I do, there is a peace and clarity of mind and well, I just feel more relaxed and know that God is with me.