Camp concert

All week I've been sans child during the day. I'd say I didn't know what to do with myself, but that would be a clichéd lie. Actually, there were so many things I wanted to do that the question was more, what should I get done next? 

It was Boychoir camp week, so while my days were filled with projects needing to be done (and a lot of reading of Ulysses), Calvin's were half filled with singing, half filled with field trip events. This is his second year of participating in the camp, and I continue to be surprised by the fantastic afternoons that this small, family-like group offers. Following lunch the group jumps on a city bus, sometimes even doing transfers, and visits a local fun place. They putt putt golfing, they swam, they went to an indoor activity center, and, the highlight of the week for most of the boys, I think, they visited a real plastics lab at the University of Michigan. Calvin loves these activities. I love that he does so well with this group of kids, and that all day camp offers him the chance to be pretty responsible for himself, and that this camp allows him to utilize public transportation. Sometimes it's the small things (or the very big and anxiety-inducing things, if I were the person in charge of all those boys for the afternoon).

The week is over now. It ended with a fun concert that was surprisingly full of interesting music for such a short practice time (and I won't say that the short practice time kind of shows, but, I guess I said it). It was fun to compare this year to last year, when I remember Calvin being a little uncertain during the concert. Now most of that uncertainty is gone, replaced by a visible confidence. In fact, this year he was selected for the small group that worked on a couple of more intense, complicated songs. In fact, a couple of weeks ago at the end-of-the-year choir ceremony, he was asked by the director and manager of the choir if he would join the Performing Choir in singing at a wedding a couple of weeks, so he has been singing with the big boys this month, and that's very exciting.

One more: a choral performance

Theater on Friday, piano on Saturday, choir on Sunday. It was a performance heavy weekend, which is just another way to measure the year and know this marks the end of sessions of all kind. The choral performance on Sunday wasn't actually the Boychoir's end of year show, though (that will come in June), this was a presentation of local art groups in a tiny nearby town. We enjoyed a nice country drive out to the don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it town about a half hour away. The turn out was surprisingly large, and the concert was very good. It was clear to Jon and me how much Calvin learned throughout his first year of choir. Even better, it was clear how much he enjoyed the entire experience. He stood up tall and proud, he was clearly focused the whole time, and he looked not only like he enjoyed singing, but also like, perhaps, he knew what he was doing. He sang his songs with confidence and proper shaping, he moved just a little with feeling and rhythm.

We were impressed, and proud. I was pretty sure it was bias, and it might be, but after the concert there was no counting the number of people who stopped us to tell us how sweet our son was up there, and how very talented, too.

Photos by Mike Austin, from the Manchester Mirror.