Forget the Fab Five, Meet the Extraordinary Eight. A Tale of Piano, Performance, and Powdered Sugar
What has 8 heads, 16 hands, 704 keys, and one vision? Not a mutant cyclops janitor roaming the halls of Mad Hatter Music School. It’s the inaugural Piano Band. Eight lucky and very talented students were invited to participate in the first-ever Piano Band that took place during the third week of September.
The Mad Hatter Music School Piano Band Members… 8 brilliant children, 4 difficult songs, 3 days to accomplish the impossible. Did they do it? You bet!
Members of the octave-loving octet hail from the local communities of Birkdale, Acacia Ridge, Mount Gravatt, and Underwood. Now with their first Piano Band experience under their belt, these gifted students will not only be the envy of their hometown but of their fellow students wanting to participate in this fantastic week of ensemble learning.
This honour is not to be taken lightly as the band members were selected based on the following criteria:
Practice Commitment
A Great Teamwork Mindset
Excellent Piano Skills
Over 3 days, these VIPs (Very Important Pianists) dedicated themselves to developing their musical skills while their social skills were front row center too. The only holes in their performance were from the doughnuts they devoured from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Acacia Ridge post-show. Celebrating with sweets! What else would you expect from a school designed with kids in mind? Especially when these kids are designed with doughnuts in mind.
Perfect Practice Makes Perfect Performances
Piano Band, a soon-to-be tradition at Mad Hatter Music, allows students to step outside of their comfort zones and grow their performance-based piano skills; all the while creating lasting friendships. For some students, this age can be challenging when it comes to confidence and putting themselves “out there.” Fortunately, where words can sometimes fail, music will speak. And wow, did these kids ever speak.
Playlist
The group tackled the following four songs with dedication and a musical maturity showing well beyond their years. You can watch the performance here on our music school Facebook page.
Elevate: One by Daniel McFarlane
This squad is always up for a challenge. Ensuring the tempo stays on the beat is not an easy task. It was a powerful piece to start the performance and of course, the piano band members rose to the occasion and executed Elevate: One with precision and ease.
He’s a Pirate by Klaus Badelt
A piece from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean would have brought tears of joy to any matey’s unpatched eye. Being the most challenging song out of the four, these buccaneers did not back down. They all delivered such a great performance. You could almost picture Captain Jack Sparrow humming along atop the crow’s nest of the Black Pearl.
Sounds from Down Below by Daniel McFarlane
With Halloween around the corner and this post already providing you two great costume ideas, or one hybrid super costume (Cyclops Pirate), it seemed only fitting for the team to learn this ominous and spooky piece. Not only did they nail it, but they learned it in 15 minutes. Did we say the Extraordinary Eight? More like the Efficient Eight.
Memories by Maroon 5
To cap off the day they finished with a well-suited and crowd-pleasing piece from the likes of Maroon 5. This song captured the fond memories that were created amongst the band throughout their time together. Like all good things, they must come to an end. Yet watching these students evolve and add to their musical acumen made every child involved that much better for it.
Pay Off
There is nothing more rewarding than aiding and bearing witness to a love of music being fostered right in front of your eyes. This group, like all students at Mad Hatter Music School, has a kinship that is bound by their passion for piano and by pushing themselves to dive deeper into their pool of talent. Well done everyone. We can't wait for the next group to come together. For any current or potential students wanting to learn more about this program, send us a message here. Doughnut worry about a thing, there will be plenty more sweet rewards at Mad Hatter Music School.
