Super Spjutes: Caleb Wins His First Trophy!

OK, so we usually keep most of Caleb's piano stuff on his own separate blog which you can see here, but this was such a big deal that we thought we'd share it on our family blog as well.

Caleb went to a piano competition in Park City this past weekend to "practice" some of his solo pieces and his concerto. The reason I say "practice" is because originally he signed up to compete in their solo competition and concerto competition, but they called to tell us his age group had been cancelled due to not enough other kids signing up. Caleb really wanted to play his songs, so we asked if they could let him play in the next age division which was 4th-7th grade. They told us they really advised against it because mostly they were all 7th graders signed up, and he wouldn't be getting any prizes because they only had 1 trophy, but if he knew this and he was OK with it, then it was fine if he still wanted to come just to play.

So, Caleb still worked hard to practice, and we ventured out to Park City although we told him he wouldn't be winning anything. We did see that the concerto group was smaller, so we told him maybe just maybe he might be able to get an Honorable Mention if one of the other kids didn't show up, because then that would be very last place.

Caleb was cute though, and before we started our drive to Park City, Caleb said a prayer in our van which included, "Please bless so I can win an award."
Yikes. We didn't want to say anything to that, but gee, we already told him it was very slim chances and now he is praying to win an award? Oh, well.

Well, Caleb did alright with his solo pieces, messed up a bit on his second song, but he didn't win anything in that group. I didn't expect him to, their were like 20 kids and all much older. Then came his concerto competition and luckily 1 kid didn't show up, so we were really excited that he could get that Honorable Mention now. Caleb went in and he played the best I have seen him. No major mistakes, just one little slow down at the end. Of course, these other kids were in 6th and 7th grade and I couldn't hear them play completely, but I could see the way they were "devouring" the piano, and they were pretty fancy.

We waited outside for the results just waiting to see if Caleb was lucky for that Honorable Mention. However, when they came out they said Caleb was invited to come back and perform that evening. Now for the other competitions, they would invite 2 finalists to come and play and 1 of them was the 1st and the other was 2nd, but you didn't know which until you came back. Well, 1st, we were astonished that Caleb would be 1 of 2 finalists. We automatically assumed he was 2nd place then. But then I guess the concerto competitions they work differently. When we looked on the website results, they only listed one name for a finalist--Caleb. And then they listed one name for Honorable Mention--a girl who won 1st place at the last concerto competition Caleb went to. So, we were confused. I kept waiting for the other finalist name to appear, but it never did. That meant Caleb was it---he had won 1st place!

OK, now, so now I am a doubting terrible mother here, but really, how could my little Caleb have won over these older kids? I mean really? Yes, he's really good for his age, but come on---these older kids were good. I mean, they were GOOD. Maybe it's because Caleb is just so cute and little......or......??? And of course then I started feeling bad like these poor other kids---look what I did, Caleb wasn't even supposed to be in their age group and they let him and he won and so that wasn't fair..... But then, he did play extremely well for the judge. I was so proud. He always astonishes me. I mean, I guess it's different when I hear him every day practicing and I don't always hear the best, or I can tell exactly every little part when he messes up at recitals or wherever, but he's really winning these things. He must actually be pretty good, and it's not just my motherly biased opinion. Hmmm.

Anyway, he went back and performed, and I cringed as he messed up the middle section, but I'm sure it wasn't as big of deal, it was just because I know the song so well, but anyway, he was so cute, and I particularly liked his fancy finger work at the end. I recorded just the end part here so you can see what I mean:

I love the way he hits those scales and pops his hand up and then pounds the piano at the end. If you want to see his full performance, it is on his blog.

He got a medal:

(which he loves! He tried to go to school on Monday wearing ALL his medals.)

And he got this really nice glass trophy/plague.
I tried to take a picture of it on his shelf, but try to take a picture of glass at night with a flash....Anyway, you get the idea.