Older than Jesus

As fate would have it, I happened to tune-in to the national broadcast of the Presidential Inauguration on CNN just as the musicians were performing the new John Williams piece! My kiddos adore Star Wars and Indiana Jones, so telling them that the man who wrote those pieces also wrote this special Inauguration piece was incredible! Here's a photo I found on Flickr.

Back to the performance: there on the stage was Yo-Yo Ma (try explaining THAT name to kids!) and Itzhak Perlman. They wanted to know how old he was, and I told them we needed to look that information up online. While hunting, I mentioned that he was born in what is now Israel, and the kids asked me if he was older than Jesus! I love these kids! The way their minds work!

We were able to watch Gabriella Montero on the grand piano and Anthony McGill playing the clarinet. Talk about a music lesson in the making! Because John Williams used "Simple Gifts" as the basis of his new piece, we were able to immediately connect to the music, as they have the original song in their "Get America Singing" book.

We missed hearing Aretha Franklin sing, but I'm sure I'll be able to find and download it somewhere online! I already found and archived the ensemble performance mentioned above, and found a way to view it during school hours, without having to go through any of the blocked sites (Facebook, YouTube, etc.) Hooray!

The kids were just amazed at the number of people - as was I! I found these satellite images on GeoEye later in the day - unreal!
I LOVE sharing these experiences with young children - they are exited because you are excited, and regardless of party affiliation, they completely understood that this was a momentous day in their lives! I am so excited for the future!