OTTER CREEK STOMP

This is Calli's 3rd year to do a piano ensemble group and if mom has her way, it will be our last. While the concept of 15-20 kids all playing the same piece in unison with an instructor directing them is cool, the time commitment can be great.

This years piece was titled Otter Creek Stomp. It is customary for the outfits to fit the song and everyone dresses alike. This year the instructor was a little more leniant (or better said, didn't know what he was doing) and not very clear (or better said, a horrible communicator) when it came to costumes and most other items. The end result of this "costume" was cute but the initial shock of "the tail" was quite comical. The joke was it didn't look like an otter's tail but more like a piece of poop hanging from their backside. The comical part was the director and his poop...I mean tail. It was quite big. Big enough to alter his walk. Pardon this visual but you know when a toddler has an accident in his pants and walks with his legs wide so as not to squish the object in his pants anymore....that's the walk he did.

He was SOOOO proud of the tails. Mind you, you can't see the tails as the kid SAT behind a grand piano 3 times their size, so we had to march them all in front and bow in a straight line in front and then turn and bow their backsides to the audience as well. I think he was more into the tails than the piano piece.

Crazy costume or not, all went well. Numerous practices as a group and individually led up to a performance on Monday night locally in Conroe for friends and family and then in Houston this past Saturday at the Texas Music Associations Convention. It helped that Calli's friends Shelby Jones and Lydia Derksen joined the Otter family and wore their tails with pride!

Saturday after Calli's piano thing in Houston, we all ventured out to visit Peppy...more pictures later this week on this new favorite friend. Sunday night, Wes and I ventured out to The Woodlands Pavillion (I love that place for concerts) to see Rascal Flatts in concert, along with Darrius Rucker. It was a great show and a relaxing evening!