The Symphony Through a Mom's Eyes

The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus performed at the local women's college tonight. Joe and I decided to trade our usual nightly symphony of whining, arguing, gnashing of teeth, and bedtime protesting for one with violins and cellos.

Is that really a fair thing to say when I wrote about going to New York City without the kids in my last post? Probably not, but trust me, we rarely get out alone. This month is grossly atypical.

The symphony began with a gentleman, I'm assuming the president of the university, standing up and announcing that someone attending the concert had been seen hitting two other cars while parking his or her car, and then walking off without leaving notes. He then described the car and read aloud the license plate number. He described the cars that were hit, and then the man invited everyone involved to go to the lobby and speak with security immediately.

Right after the announcement, the show began. This group has an amazing story. They formed in the nineties, after the Iron Curtain fell, and they began introducing sacred masterpieces, starting with Handel's Messiah, to the Ukrainian people. Since religious music wasn't permitted under communism, these pieces had never been heard before in Eastern Bloc countries. The message of the music resonated, and people were coming to know the Lord through it. They've operated for seventeen years now, focusing on evangelism and humanitarian outreach. It was amazing to watch them, knowing that they use their craft to touch lives so significantly.

Equally stunning was their performance. The musicians were brilliant, and the choir sang beautifully. I was impressed by my recognition of the music and the composers. I'm not exactly a music person. I enjoy it, but I don't know it, sadly. I was feeling slightly cocky about my recall abilities until I realized that I mostly know the music because of Little Einsteins.

The conductor introduced Igor Stravinsky's Firebird, and I instantly thought of the Little Einsteins episode, "Build it Rocket". It's the episode where Rocket is helping the Three Little Pigs build their house so the Big Bad Wolf won't get them. And the entire time the orchestra was playing so beautifully, I had the adorable character Annie's voice ringing through my head. "Build it Rocket, build it Rocket, build that house out of bricks," I serenaded Joe quietly.

They played a few Christmas selections, and then the conductor's wife came onto the stage to show some of the things they were selling in the lobby. Then she awkwardly handed her husband a note and whispered something in his ear. He read the note and then announced, "No kidding, if you are the driver of the Honda with the license plate number ___-___, you really need to go speak with security right now if you want to avoid two hit and run charges...(pregnant pause)...Now back to Christmas!"

In our section, a woman stood up, and all eyes were on her. She walked up the aisle under a cloud of suspicion, but because she had two little boys with her, I immediately recognized that she wasn't a hit and run suspect--one of her children had a bladder with the worst possible timing. I knew this because one of my children has a bladder with the worst possible timing. At first I felt really sorry for her because she probably felt so timid getting up at that point. But then I decided she probably never heard the announcement in the first place. She was probably having an "I have to go potty" discussion right through it, and she really had no idea what kinds of implications were being made about her. My suspicions were confirmed when she and her kids returned to their seats two minutes later.

Either way, I was happy that my kids were experiencing Stravinsky in the privacy of our home through Little Einsteins in the company of a babysitter tonight, while I enjoyed his music live.