Liz's Success as a Page-Turner

Imagine a beautiful Steinway piano.

Imagine a night-time view of Jerusalem.

Now imagine the beautiful Steinway piano in a room with that view of Jerusalem. 

Now imagine somebody playing that beautiful Steinway piano in a room with that view of Jerusalem.

Now imagine that you are that somebody playing that piano in a room with that view of Jerusalem.

And by you I mean me.

This week we had our Jerusalem Center Formal Talent Show, and somehow  Sara and I both got persuaded into participating in it.  How?  I don’t know.  I haven’t ever played in a talent show in my entire life, and I haven’t even performed at all for years.  We have some INCREDIBLY talented people here, so to say that I was highly intimidated is a gross understatement.  I like to think of it more as being an opening act for someone famous!  The more legit the performer, the more legit their opening act, right?  Too bad I more than slaughtered my song (Grandpa’s arrangement of “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer”), but Sara rocked her piece (“Toccata”).  Ya, so I go up and play a fairly basic song (it sounded primary in comparison to everything else) that everybody knows well enough to know when I mess up, and then Sara just shredded the piano apart, it was incredible.  But I did a great job as Sara's page turner!  It was a step up from last time when I got distracted during Sara's 30 minute song and forgot to turn the page! Whoops!  Aunt Ruth, you should be proud!

Now for Sara’s point of view:

So yes, we played in the talent show! And we volunteered to do it (sort of). Surprising, huh?! I definitely was not even thinking about doing it. We have some amazingly talented people here that could rock me in piano any day. I was playing the other day though and one of the girls on the talent show committee came in. She took it upon herself to make sure I signed up. I still hadn't signed up after the sheet was taken down, but she convinced me into it (mostly just so I could play the legit piano... That may or may not have been the motivating factor), so the guy in charge let us sign up anyway (Yes, US. If I had to do it, Liz clearly did as well!). Like Liz said, neither of us have really performed for people for a long time. But it was kind of amazing to be on stage in the JC auditorium with all of Jerusalem in the background with an amazing piano! And Liz sounded incredible. And I didn't even rush my notes. And it was SO much fun! I just had a party playing my song and didn't even freak out or start shaking until I sat down. But then it didn't matter :) Basically both of us thought it was going to turn into a disaster, but then it was super fun and awesome

It’s Donakey family tradition (as well as tradition for several other families) to go out for ice cream after concerts and recitals, but here we don’t really have that option.  So we improvised—and we went to the Shekel Shack!  Although they were out of magnum bars, we were able to get some yummy desserts.  It was magical! 

The two of us with that beautiful Steinway piano that we played  in the room
with that night time view of Jerusalem.  It was GORGEOUS!

Our after-concert treats at the Shekel Shack!