Chloe and Isabel gave their Book 2 Recital on the last Saturday of our Spring Term! Here are their reflections on the experience:

~from Chloe

    I was really excited when I heard my partner was Isabel, since we did our Book 1 Recital together too!
        Isabel and I were both really nervous in the beginning, since there were 5 guests who came to watch, and it was a lot more people than in the dress rehearsal. Consequently, during the first piece—Happy Farmer, Isabel forgot that I was leading, and led the bow, and gave the cue. So of course I was really confused, and messed up the beginning. Fortunately, we somehow managed to start again, with me giving the cue, and the rest of the piece went really well. 
        Our other two joint pieces—Twinkles and Musette was really good. In Twinkles, we both remembered to have eye contact after every section. In Musette, we didn’t forget to do the dynamics and phrasing we were working on the last few weeks. The only thing I think we could have done was a bigger retard and diminuendo in the end.
        I think part of why the joint pieces were really great, is because we practiced them over and over during all the joint lessons, dress rehearsal, and our practice-playdate. Yup! On June 10, Isabel went over to my place and we practiced all our joint pieces with our concert dress on! After 45 minutes of practice, we decided that we were fine, and started to play games! She even stayed for lunch! 
        Anyways, back to the recital. Slowly but surely, I got more confident throughout the performance. I think my best piece that day was Two Grenadiers, since I used my whole bow, did the crescendo, and used my elbow for the up bows, to create a grand forte sound. I also really liked Chorus from “Judas Maccabaeus”, because I used my thumb and elbow together to create beautiful tone. In Boccherini Minuet, I did a lot of dynamics in the C, D, and E sections, but I could definitely make the trills sound clearer. In Hunters Chorus and Gossec Gavotte, my eighth and sixteenth notes were kind of mushed together. I really liked Gavotte from Mignon’s pizzicato ending as well. I did elbow circles, and pulled the strings sideways. 
        After the recital, we had a lot of snacks, drinks, and candy, at the reception. Everyone was just chatting, laughing, and eating. 
        Lastly, I want to thank all the people who have helped me make this recital happen. Ms. Diane, for teaching me all the pieces I performed. Ms. Marie Ann, for organizing everything. My family, for supporting me along. Ms. Sonomi, for collaborating with me. Isabel, for being a great friend and partner. And Isabel’s parents, for bringing the amazing food!
        All in all, the whole recital was a fun and enjoyable experience, and I look forward to my future Book 3 Recital too!

~from Isabel

I think that my book recital with Chloe was successful because we worked well and we could identify what problems there were in our joint pieces and we practised this more when Chloe invited me over to her house and we mostly practised Musette because we needed to practise being in sync. After that, we played with Chloe’s little sister and ate lunch. I think this was a very fun experience and I would like to do another recital with Chloe.