Grace Notes Piano Show highlights TWCA Fine Arts growth

A celebration of creativity, music and synthesis. 

That is how TWCA music teacher Moree Simon described the 4^th Annual Grace Notes Piano Show that took place on March 4^th in the Ruth Auditorium. 

A total of 51 students from kindergarten to 5^th grade performed for a socially distanced packed house in a culmination of months of auditions, arrangement work and practice. 

It wasn’t just piano playing on display, though. Performances included guitar, singing, a harpist, a percussions piece using yoga balls, a rap and the grand finale featured a hula hoop routine, much to the appreciation of Simon and the audience. 

In the 4^th year of the show — which began as a classroom show, then graduated to the EMPR, and finally the Ruth Auditorium — Simon wanted to showcase the creativity and exploration of her students. 

(Click here for Photos and Videos from the performance!)

“This wasn’t a recital,” Simon said. “In a recital, you play back the music exactly as it was written. The show featured several modified or synthesized arrangements by the students.” 

Simon also wanted to expand this year’s show to include more variety. 

“[Grace Notes] is still a piano show,” she said. “But we are striving for our kids to be creative in how God made them, however that may manifest.” 

Though Grace Notes is the biggest show of the year for Simon and her students, she wants to harness the excitement of the kids to continue growing the TWCA Fine Arts program. 

Fine Arts Director Philip Sweger mirrored that sentiment. 

"TWCA is unique in that it is poised for greatness in the Fine Arts," Sweger said. "The teachers that are here have done an incredibly job laying the foundation for the growth that is coming."

"I am thankful to be at a school that values Fine Arts equally and understands that is one of the components to making well-rounded students," Sweger added. "Many schools say that Fine Arts are important, but at TWCA it is part of the greater mission."