Skip to main content

Music and the Spoken Word

Last night I went with my mom and Ari to see the lights at Temple Square and see a Ririe Woodbury performance in Salt Lake. The lights were beautiful and the soft, slowly falling snow was gorgeous. The performance was good, but I decided I much prefer ballet. I'm really glad we went though. Thanks mom!


Today I went to the Music and the Spoken Word special Christmas performance. My dad, Free and Ari and I went. We didn't have tickets, so we went to the Tabernacle in the stand-by waiting area. Luckily, we got in! We were excited to see grandma and grandpa in action fulfilling their calling. Their mission is at Temple Square as ushers and they love it! They do a great job! The performance was absolutely amazing! They had Alfie Boe and Tom Brokaw were guest artists. Alfie Boe played Jean Valjean in London's 25th Anniversary production of Les Miserables and he sang Bring Him Home today. It was so amazing! My dad cried, a lot. Another guest arrived after Tom Brokaw told a really neat story about a pilot after WW2 that met some kids who were trapped in Berlin after it was separated, trapping many people in the border. He met them behind barbed-wire fence and was amazed at their gratitude and thankfulness. He wished he had something more to give, but he handed two of them each one piece of gum he had in his pocket. Without speaking, the children ripped the gum wrappers and passed them around so they could all smell the minty flavor. The pilot convinced some of his buddies to give their chocolate and gum to the children. They dropped it from their plane, tied to some handkerchiefs. The kids recognized his plane by him moving the wings and was later nicknamed Uncle Wiggly Wings, The Candy Bomber and the Chocolate Flier. His name was Gail Halvorsen and he was onstage personally at the performance! It was so neat! He was wearing the same uniform he had back when he started dropping the candy, and he had a bundle of energy as he hopped down the stairs without the rail. And he is 92!! Wow! His efforts he said really gave him, the children, and many others the real Christmas spirit. He even carried the German team's national placard in the winter 2002 Olympics! He also received theGrand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and has an elementary school in Germany named after him. He also served two LDS missions with his wife, Alta. During the song after his story was told, hundreds of parachutes descended on the audience. We were in the balcony, so we didn't get any but they were so pretty and fun to watch! I want to be just like Gail when I grow up! :)
There was dancing, gorgeous costumes, amazing sets, wonderful lighting and of course perfect, Christmas music. The spirit was so strong and the whole performance was just incredible! This has been the best Christmas-spirit event I've been to yet! :)





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Senior Flute Recital

*(I'm catching up)* November 21st Another rite of passage as my mom would say! Senior Flute recital! I had probably been practicing and preparing the repertoire for almost two years, not to mention the 8 years before that which allowed me to get to the level required to play the pieces. Cindy told me a Senior Recital wasn't required, but encouraged. It was good practice for auditions, stress and pressure management :) ;) and it was a good motivator to practice. I'm so glad I did it, even if it did seem overwhelming at times. I really started to love the flute during the months leading up to the recital. It was exciting to have something to work for and know that soon I could show what I'd been doing for so many years. I worked hard, but wasn't always the most dedicated student. Priorities often put flute behind school and ballet. Dance is my true passion and has been for so many years, but music has helped with dance and I'm thankful for the balance fl...
There are so many things that make up a person. I know that "things" isn't the right word, but I can't think of something that adequately describes what a person even  would  be made of. Dreams, accomplishments, interests, regrets, mistakes, wishes, relationships, etc. I love ballet. I want to teach ballet, and I want to dance ballet. It's part of who I am. But my heart also yearns for the actress side of me. The little bite of real acting that I got at the age of ten in a production of Babes in Toyland in Salt Lake City. The countless drives to Ogden for rehearsals of Music Man when I was twelve. The ten-hour dress rehearsals of Jana's plays throughout high school. I miss that. My heart yearns for the flute. The peak of my playing my Senior year when I was practicing daily and could play Carnival of Venice like a pro. When I began to see what my practicing had accomplished and considered going on to play in a symphony. I miss French. Learning an entire other ...

Italia

Ciao! We are in Italy! We woke up at four and went to the airport. We cut it close, which means we just didn't have two hours to waste in the terminal;) the flight was so short! Luckily everything with our bags worked out which had been a little worrying since we took EasyJet. We arrived at the Argenti's and almost immediately left to take a train to Venice. Another American family is here staying nearby who are friends so they also came to Venice. It was weird to speak English to someone besides Ruby! Venice was amazing! It's so pretty and colorful. It was very hot and kind of crowded so we didn't stay in touristy parts the whole time. The water is turquoise and the buildings are intricate and charming. It's kind of like Paris but sassy. If that makes sense. We got yummy pizza and gelato. I told the dad my and Ruby 's order for gelato and he thought it was just mine. So I got two scoops! So much ice cream! Italian is so beautiful and basically a combination of...