Li’l Hands acquits itself well in TBMF debut

Keaton, left, and Santiago.

Li’l Hands Music School made its debut in the 12th Tumon Bay Music Festival last month and its teacher Joyce Dimaun said she and her students will forever relish the experience.

“Participating for the very first time in Tumon Bay Music Festival was really an unforgettable and a wonderful experience for these kids who have incredible talents in playing piano and singing” she said.

The music school was rewarded with its students doing fairly well in Li’l Hands’ first-ever foray into the Tumon Bay Music Festival.
At first it was a very hard decision since the budget was very tight for the last part of 2015, according to Dimaun.

She said the music school closed down for about one and a half months due to Super Typhoon Soudelor.

“Family needs to prioritize how to recover from the devastating storm and nobody projected that the school would push through in participating on the event,” she said.
The school fortunately made its decision to join last January of this year 2016. The parents supported the decision and the students willingly participated despite only having two months of intensive practices, learning, and mastering their classical pieces.
Allexa Murielle Go from Grace Christian Academy got bronze and said she got very nervous since it was her first time to join the event. Go was the very first performer at 8 o’clock in the morning.

Susan Keaton, mom of one of the pianists who watched the event, said “They are all equally good.”

Go mastered the “Reverie” in the period of two months but had exerted all her time and effort learning the hard classical piece by Debussy. The tempo, dynamics and clarity of every notes should be in that piece. She also played an Opus 69 No. 2 (posth) by F. Chopin and one classic music Ballad pour Adeline. Go wanted to thank her mother who has been her source of inspiration and encouragement. According to her mom, seeing her daughter perform is already a big and priceless achievement for her.

Jack Keaton, a 6th grader from GCA, played a piece by F. Chopin and 2 Sonatinas (3 movements) by Reinecke and F. Spindler. Keaton got a silver award despite his other commitments, being one of the contestants in Spelling Bee also held in Guam that day. He divided his time in mastering every word for the Spelling Bee and mastering every note in all his piano pieces. It’s a tough work for him and he nailed it.

Izea Joseign Dimaun, a 4th grader from Oleai Elementary School, is a shy girl who is not really a fan of performing in a crowd. Despite that she bagged a silver award. She learned her piano pieces Theme from Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Lizst and Little Serenade by J. Haydn for one and a half months. Thanks to Tita Jhie and sister Iver for convincing her to join the festival. She added A Whole New World from Alladin for her finale. “Izea would finish her chores and sit at the piano every night to practice her piece” according to her mom.

Donato Santiago Jr., a 5th grader from San Vicente Elem School, sang a broadway theme song from Les Miserable—On My Own and an inspirational Christian song The Power of Your Love. Santiago went home with silver award.

This boy was hesitant to join at first because he is scared of riding an airplane. But at the end he enjoyed going to Guam and participating in the festival. “That was the best day of my life” he quoted. Thanks for all his mom’s sacrifices and hard work.

Li’l Hands would like to thank all their students and parents who took part and support the valentines fundraising which helped ease up some of the expenses while staying in Guam. It’s a small amount but a big help. Li’l Hands would like to congratulate Go, Keaton, Dimaun, and Santiago as well as their parents for a job well done.

It was really an experience of a lifetime performing in front of an internationally well known pianist like Roman Rudnytsky as well as other music masters, according to Joyce Dimaun.

Li’l Hands will be holding its 10th Annual Musical Recital on May 2016. This recital is a tribute to all the moms out there. It has been the tradition of the music school recital to honor the mom, dad, and their family every year for making their child  appreciate the love of music. Last year’s Recital Theme was “A Fathers Love”  and this year will be “A Mothers Love—infinity and beyond.”