Sarah's Violin Performance

I recently celebrated my 12th birthday, and at my party, I played two pieces on the violin. My first piece was called Theme from Schindler's List by John Williams, an American musician, composer, and conductor. John Williams received his 29th Academy Award nomination for Schindler's List, and he composed many other famous pieces for movies such as Fiddler on the Roof, Star Wars, and E.T. In addition to being a famous violin piece, Schindler's list is also a movie about Oskar Schindler, a famous businessman. In the beginning of World War II, Oscar owned a factory in Poland in which he used the Jewish workers. After seeing what the Nazis did to the Jews, he decides to try and save as many Jews as he can by creating a list of essential workers.  The people put on his list got saved. Today, Oskar Schindler is remembered as a hero who saved over 1100 Jewish lives, and this movie and piece is based on his life story. Schindler's list is a very melancholy piece, and although it captures a heart-breaking event in our history, I really enjoyed learning and playing it.

In addition to playing Schindler's List, my sister, Hannah and I prepared a duet called Canon in D Major by John Pachelbell. This piece is often played at wedding's, or for a special occasions, Although it is a very famous piece, not much is known about it. Historians don't even know the exact date it was composed. They believe it was composed around 1680, and people believe it was written for Bach's brother, Johann Christoph's wedding on October 23, 1694. Pachelbell wrote over 500 classical music pieces during his lifetime, and he composed during the Baroque period. He was an organist, and even taught the man who became Bach's teacher. This piece has a lot of emotion to it, and many challenging parts.  When playing a duet,  both players have to listen to each other. I played two boxes ahead of Hannah, and it was difficult to always stay two boxes ahead, and not play too fast or too sow. In the end, Hannah and I succeeded in working well together, and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we do.