Josh's 2nd Federation

(If you would like to know about Federation, skip down to the previous post where I have a description of what Federation is.)

Josh performed three songs at Federation this year- two solos and a duet.

I really wish we could have recorded his actual Federation performance because he nailed them all.  It was pretty spectacular.

These videos that I am posting are still pretty amazing performances, but he did have a couple of memory slips and had to make some corrections.  He never ceases to amaze me with this talent and skill that he has been blessed with.  He has been playing the cello for about 4 1/2 years now and has made incredible progress.  I know he is destined to do great things with this talent.  The key will be how to figure out exactly what those great things are. :)

Here is his first piece- Meditation Hebraique by Ernest Bloch.  For those of you who have never heard of this composer, just a word of caution...he is pretty intense.  He is a Jewish composer and his songs have haunting, Jewish melodies.  I always go through a bit of a panic when Josh plays one of this composers songs.  They are challenging in a lot of ways, but it has been really great for me to have a bit of a challenge in my piano skills.  It is always a good thing when you learn something new and accomplish something that you thought would be impossible.

(Another word of caution...Abbie was our videographer.  It didn't take her long to be bored with the Bloch piece.  Maybe it would be better to just close your eyes and listen to this piece instead of watching it....unless you have a Dramamine handy. :)

Here is his second piece- Prelude to Suite #3 by Bach.  I love listening to him play the Bach Suites. 

Now for the duet.  His partner is Thayne, one of his cello teacher's other students.  They played this duet at a competition last fall.  It was fun to hear how much they have improved over the last few months.  They played the first two movements of the Vivaldi's Double Cello Concerto in G Minor.  I am only posting the video for the first movement though.


Josh received "Superior" ratings for all three of his pieces.  As with Abbie, I love being able to play with Josh.  It is especially fun, as I mentioned before, to be able to challenge myself and play things that, at first, seem too hard.