Sunday, 4 December 2011

Christmas Carols

Hi it's Katusha here. The girls have been very busy and as a result have not had the time to post. SORRY.

Astar and Rawhinia turned 13 and for their birthday we went to the ice skating rink and then to the beach with some of their friends. It was a perfect day.

The girls have also been performing a lot lately for community Christmas parties. Playing carols as background music is a fun way to perform.
Hopefully we will be posting next week.

Cheers Katusha

Sunday, 13 November 2011

Melbourne Cup


Hi everyone, just  to give you a catchup. A fundraiser was held for us on Melbourne Cup Day. It was a lunch with all the bells and of course us playing violin.
We would like to extend a big thankyou to Tanya Mundt and Lisa Leadbeatter for all the work organising the Melbourne Cup fundraiser, without them it would not have happened. With the help of some very generous people at PURE CATERING – Chrissy, BELLBIRD CREEK TEA HOUSE, KENILWORTH BUTCHERY, AFFORDABLE ON ELIZABETH, MARLENE HANKINSON and GRANT MUNDT,  $500 was raised and donated to our violin trip to Europe.
Once again a very BIG THANKYOU from Astar and Rawhinia.
Tune in soon A & R

Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Healthy Hints Page - A little bit about the Magic of Turmeric

Freshly Picked Turmeric
If you go to Nana`s Healthy Hints Page you can find out all about the amazing healing plant Turmeric. We grow it in our garden and harvest the rhizomes in September after the plant has died back. When you cut the rhizome the inside is a bright orangey-yellow. It is what makes Indian food go that bright yellow colour.
You can use it to also dye clothes!   


We will be posting later - it has been a really full-on Melbourne Cup Week!

Tune in again,  A & R

Monday, 24 October 2011

Children in Zambia

Astar and Rawhinia had a busy weekend. Starting on Saturday they were asked to help out some young violin players with performance on the Sunshine Coast.

On Sunday they had the privilege of performing (with the SCYO) to raise funds for unprivileged children in Zambia. It was a wonderful event and everything was donated from the performance, which meant that 100% of the money goes straight to the School and Orphanage in Zambia. They have over 800 children that they look after.  It is amazing.

Cheers Katusha

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Busking at Kenilworth Arts Festival




Recently we were invited to busk at the Kenilworth Arts Festival. This is a festival that is held every year at Kenilworth. This year they had roaming buskers. We had a great time and as a bonus we won an $50 encouragement prize.

Nigel Kennedy
We have found a couple of pieces of music for you to listen to by Nigel Kennedy on Youtube. Kennedy is playing the violin, this one is  when Kennedy was younger playing The Four Seasons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PipHtumoiL0&feature=related 

This next piece is a deeply moving piece of music that shows up Kennedy's perfect playing. Just beautiful.


We hope that you like the music.
We will post again next week.

Tune in soon  A & R

Monday, 10 October 2011

Womens Celebration


Hi everyone, sorry we haven't posted for a week. We have been very busy.

On the holidays we had the honour of performing at a Women's Celebration. The celebration is held every year. Each year different women are invited to perform at a dinner that celebrates what women can achieve. We were the first to perform (because we were the youngest). The celebration started at 6:30pm and finished at around midnight (we didn't stay all night). Although we didn't stay all night all of the acts that we saw were fabulous, ranging from folk singers, jazz, and pop music. We are still baking and busking to save up for our trip to Europe (a long way to go but we are not giving up). We will post again on Monday next week.

Tune in Soon  A & R

Ginger Comes to the Rescue

Zingiber Officianle, commonly known as ginger is used for many ailments including relieving some flu symptoms. Check out our  Healthy Hints page to find out more about the magic of ginger.

We will update our post later,
Tune in again soon,  A & R

Monday, 26 September 2011

Violin for International Peace Day

Hi everyone,
Wednesday was International Peace Day and we were asked to perform at a celebration in Brisbane. Here is a pic. of us practicing for  Peace Day.




 The Peace Day Celebration was held at Kupidabin Wilderness Cultural Centre.

They started with adding a plaque to the Peace Pole then they had a Traditional Peace fire.

After there was afternoon tea and this is where we played. It was a great day.

Since then we have busked at an Art festival, done an art workshop and performed at a Women's Celebration. We will tell you about all of these later.
P.S. we may be posting late next week.

Tune in Soon  A & R


Violin Violin Violin Violin Makes people HAPPY!
  

Monday, 19 September 2011

Camping

Rawhinia and Astar at the camp site

Well as you know we went camping on the weekend. It was perfect weather. On Friday we had tennis lessons and after tennis finished we were meant to pack the car, BUT Astar fell off a scooter on to the road and grazed her arms quite badly. So we ended up at the hospital (because the cuts were to big and deep for mum to fix). Astar is quite tough and she still wanted to go camping, so we packed on Saturday morning.

Rawhinia and Astar at the creek (Astar keeping her arms dry)

It was really good fun. We set up the tent near a fire-pit and relaxed through the afternoon. On Sunday some friends arrived for a picnic lunch and joined us for a swim in the creek.
This Wednesday is International Peace Day and we have been asked to perform in Brisbane at a celebration. We will take some photos and write about it on Monday.

Tune in Soon  A & R 

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Queensland Youth Orchestra


This last week we have been practicing for a concert with the QYO2 (Queensland Youth Orchestra). The concert was on Saturday at the Old Museum in Brisbane. The QYO2 are amazing, it is hard to put down our violins now that we have heard how fantastic they are. Sergei V Korschmin, their conductor, is so passionate and gives it his all. One of the pieces they performed was 'Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor' so cool.
The SCYO (we are in the first violins) played 'Bellingrath Gardens', 'Overture to the Wasps' and 'Overture to the Marriage of Figaro'.

Next weekend we are going camping with mum, so we may be a bit late in posting.

Tune in soon  A & R

Sunday, 4 September 2011

Fundraising for Charity

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R

Hi this is Katusha.

Astar and Rawhinia are busy doing assignments and have asked me to do the post for them.
I thought that you might like to hear about what the girls do for charities. They always say yes when they are asked to perform for charities.


 They perform for leukaemia patients, to raise money to help the families. They have been asked to perform at a fundraising event for women with cancer. They have played for  children at local kindergartens. Astar and Rawhinia have performed for International Peace Day (and will be performing again this year for this event). When the cyclone ripped through North Queensland Astar and Rawhinia went busking to raise money which they put towards things that the children effected by the cyclone could use. When the fires decimated Victoria the girls went busking and donated money, along with nearly all their toys and a lot of their clothing, as they wanted to help the children affected. Astar and Rawhinia have performed at nursing homes to brighten up the residents day. Astar and Rawhinia have also sent books to New Guinea for remote schools to use.
And there's MUCH more. It is so nice to see the girls getting pleasure from helping and inspiring others.
The girls will be posting again next week.

Cheers Katusha

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Toowoomba Jr Strings

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R

Hi everyone. We had a busy weekend starting with Saturday when the Toowoomba Jr Strings visited the SCYO for a full day workshop and concert. They were SO CUTE! It was great to spend some time with kids that are just starting to play violin. Then on Sunday we went busking to make some money for our trip. We are still on our yeast cleanse and we challenge you to have a go at a yeast cleanse. You can find the diet on the net but you basically eat rice and veg for 5 weeks. You are not allowed potato and any sugars. And for those of you that eat meat you can still eat meat. Good luck!

Tune in soon  A & R

Monday, 22 August 2011

Cleansing the System with Juicing

This last week I have been, and am still on, a juicing cleanse. Years ago I was diagnosed with terminal cancer (no sign of it now) so every year I do a cleanse. Check out the Healthy Hints page where I share with you a bit on what I do.


Tune in to A & R soon,
Cheers Christabel

Sunday, 21 August 2011

William Robinson Art Exhibition

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R

Astar and Rawhinia outside the William Robinson Exhibition


Hi. As mum said last week we went to Brisbane for Nana's B'Day. There were 2 exhibitions that we wanted to see. The first was the Surrealism exhibition at the Brisbane Art Gallery, well what a downer! Even though we learnt a lot about Surrealism we walked out of there feeling very uninspired!!! Fortunately after that we went to the QUT at the Botanical Gardens in Brisbane to see an exhibition by William Robinson. It was amazing!!!!!!!! If you ever have the opportunity to see any of his work we totally recommend that you go. We could have spent all day looking at his work, particularly the rain forest and landscape oil paintings. They were amazing and huge. Before we went we had seen some prints of William Robinson's work, and thought that they were good but when you are in the same room as the paintings well it is mind blowing. SO COOL William Robinson is gifted. Check him out on the net.
We have also started a yeast cleanse and will tell you about it next week.

Tune in soon  A & R

Sunday, 14 August 2011

Eisteddfods

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R



Rawhinia on the left and Astar on the right

Rawhinia and Astar had a busy week. On Monday they were busy practicing for Eisteddfods. Eisteddfods are held every year all over Australia and the world. Over the last week the string Eisteddfod was held on the Sunshine Coast. This was Astar and Rawhinia's first time to participate without an orchestra. The girls entered into the two sections, duet and trio (with a friend playing the third part). For the duet they played 'Bach concerto for two violins in D minor' (the first movement). Then for the trio they played Brandenburg's concerto for three violins. They were performing against children up to 15 years of age who have been playing a lot longer than them. Quite nerve-racking! Never the less they won awards for both pieces.
On the weekend we took Christabel to two art exhibitions in Brisbane. The girls want to tell you about them next week.

So tune in again next week,
Cheers, Katusha

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Astar and Rawhinia Busy

Astar and Rawhinia have been very busy this week making my birthday cards and presents and also practising for the Eisteddfods.

Astar`s card on the left and Rawhinias on the right


I always look forward to seeing what they have created. Love their cards.

Here is another photo of one of last years cards.
I love this one.

A & R also made my birthday cake - a lovely chocolate cake.
A birthday concert included a few duets and some grade 7 AMEB solo pieces. I am so lucky!

Katusha will write next week when the Eisteddfods are over. By the way Eisteddfods are held each year. A competition that allows musicians of all ages to compete, in their age-group, and receive great feedback and encouragement.

Tune in again soon,
Cheers Christabel









Sunday, 31 July 2011

Workshop with BRYO

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R



SCYO playing with BRYO   Astar and Rawhinia on left playing violin
 The Sunshine Coast Youth Orchestra was invited to play with Brisbane Youth Orchestra on the weekend. We are in the first violins of the SCYO so we went along. The day started with a long drive down to Brisbane, 2 hours, then workshops with BRYO. We have played with them before so we got to catch up with our friends from Brisbane. It was so much fun. At midday we had a barbecue lunch and a concert in the afternoon. There were 91 musicians altogether. In the photo we are on the left hand side, Astar in yellow and Rawhinia in purple, playing violin. So cool.

We will be posting again next Monday.

Tune in soon  A & R

Monday, 25 July 2011

The Perfect Rosin

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R

We had a busy weekend as there was another trail bike weekend. So on Friday we baked more of our yummy Yo yos and sold them over the weekend. It's a good way to make a few more $ for our trip, and we have so much fun with our friends.

This week we want to tell you about the Rosin that we use. When we started to play violin we quickly realised that we are allergic to the Rosin. We would get a runny nose and non-stop sneeze, sneeze, sneeze! Very irritating when you are trying to focus on what you are playing. But last year we found the perfect rosin. PATH ROSIN = NO SNEEZING!!!!! It is actually made of the same sap that other rosins are made from but it has a lot less fine dust produced when playing. You see, every time you play violin you have to rub some rosin on your bow. This helps the bow (horse hair) to grip the violin strings as the bow runs over them. So usually a lot of rosin dust comes off the bow as you play. We dont know how Path do it but they have done us a HUGE favour.
We are going well with our Year 7 pieces.
Will post again next Monday.

Tune in Soon  A & R

Sunday, 24 July 2011

De Stress

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R

De stress
Nana has updated the Healthy Hints page. This week she is sharing with us ways to help with anxiety and depression - how to de stress.
Nana watched an SBS program called Insight a few months ago. Her friend Prof. Gavin Andrews was interviewed re a virtual clinic for anxiety disorders. Nana was really impressed . It`s also on her Healthy hints page.
Tune in soon, A & R

Sunday, 17 July 2011

Photo Competition

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R


Hi everyone. We have been very busy as usual, having lots of fun! School has started second term and it is great to be back in the swing of things.
Last weekend we went busking and put the profits towards the trip to Europe, we love busking because you can really communicate with the audience. 
We have also been doing a lot of walks on the Sunshine Coast as there is a photo competition, showcasing the walks in the area. So we took some pics and entered into the children section. You can have a look using the link http://www.sunshinecoastwalksfestival.com.au/photocomp/index.php?category=child . One of the photos had trouble loading so we have put it on the blog for you. You might recognise the pose from our You Tube clip, same but without the violins. We took this photo yesterday. 
We will tune in next week on Monday.

Tune in Soon  A & R 

Sunday, 10 July 2011

Food Additives Cause Bad Behaviour and ADD

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon, A & R

Today we are busy getting all our home-schooling organized for this term. When we were small we would react to certain foods. We would feel fuzzy in the head and/or maybe become very grumpy. Sometimes it was a reaction to the actual food (gluten, lactose) and sometimes our reactions were because of food additives. 
You can read a bit about the affect of food additives on some children by going to our Healthy Hints Page. 


Tune in again soon,  A & R



Monday, 4 July 2011

Winter School

Astar in practice room at The Loft
Winter School was amazing! It went for five days at the Uni in Brisbane and although the music was not at a high standard we learnt loads. The Winter School was organised by Deep Blue (a string orchestra with a difference) they are so cool. We learnt about improvisation, stage craft and all the technology that you can use in performing. There were around 40 students at the Winter School and at the end we all did a performance in a place called The Loft. The loft is amazing. It has an entrance at ground level with the stage up in the air overhanging the entrance.
<><><><> <><><><> <><><><>
Rawhinia in practice room at The Loft
We were lucky enough to be asked to be in a string quartet, performing at the beginning of the show. In true Deep Blue style there were smoke machines and laser lights. Very Cool.

We met loads of other musicians and had a fantastic time.
Tune is Soon  A & R

Sunday, 3 July 2011

Healthy Hints

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon,   A & R

This week Nana is talking about children who behave badly and are difficult to control. They may have a food allergy! Please read our Healthy Hints page to find out more. We will be posting again tomorrow as we want to tell you about Winter School,


Tune in again soon,  A & R

Monday, 27 June 2011

Wedding at Maleny Manor


Rawhinia and Astar playing at the wedding

Astar and Rawhinia at the wedding
 The wedding was an outdoor wedding at Maleny Manor with an amazing view of the Sunshine Coast (you can see some of the view in the top photo). We were there to play violin for the service. We played 'Brandenberg Concerto' and 'Vivaldi's Concerto For Two Violins in A Minor' as the people were seating. Then when Kate (the bride) in her beautiful dress walked down the isle, we played 'Pachelbel's Canon'.
After the ceremony while the Kate and Mitch (the bride and groom) were signing the register we played 'The Flower Duet', 'Winter - Vivaldi' and   'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring'. The wedding was perfect in every way. We had a great time and hope to do more weddings in the future.

This week we are at Winter School for Strings. Having a wonderful time so we will tell you all about it next week.

Tune in soon  A & R

Monday, 20 June 2011

Guest Speakers For Leadership Day

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon,   A & R


Rawhinia and Astar at Leadership Presentations
 Hi Everyone. We were asked to be the guest speakers for a leadership day at one of the schools on the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday. It was great and quite an honour. The school had chosen two children to be their leaders for the year. We were to present the awards. We also played violin to all the students at the school and did an inspirational talk for the students that attended the school. It was great for us to do this because last year both of us were chosen to be leaders of our old school. After the talk, and violin playing, the principal asked the students if any of them wanted to learn to play the violin. After hearing us play all the kids hands shot up. Then the headmistress asked if they were inspired to follow any other dream (after our talk) and all their hands shot up again. It was so COOL!
This weekend we have the great honour of playing the music for a wedding. We will let you know how it goes. We may be a bit late in posting next week as we are doing Winter School (for violin.) We will also tell you more about that after it has finished.
Hope you are all staying warm. We will post again next week.

Tune in soon,  A & R

Sunday, 12 June 2011

Motor Cross

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon,   A & R


Astar and Rawhinia at Motor Cross

We had a great weekend selling Yo yos at the Motor Cross Vintage Bike weekend. We sold 176 biscuits and made a good profit that is going towards our trip. There were about 2000 people there camping and on Saturday night it rained which made it very muddy. So along with all the campers and motor bikes we got to slosh around in the mud! Today we are exhausted! We want to say thankyou to the P & C who let us sell our Yo yos at their canteen.


Rawhinia about to go Picnic racing
 On Sunday, after all the campers went and the adults were still cleaning up the canteen, we climbed the hill and went picnic- racing. Picnic- racing is when you get a big piece of cardboard and slide down the hill on it. So much fun! We have put the recipe for the Yo yos on our Recipe Page as so many people wanted it, it is simple and they taste SO YUMMY!!!! But be warned, they are addictive!
Also to all those who are wanting to help us raise the money for our trip (we are still a long way off our target) you can do so by donating a note on our Help Us Page.
We will be posting again on Monday next week.

Tune in Soon  A & R

Saturday, 4 June 2011

Astar and Rawhinia 'Composing At Ten Years Old'

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon,   A & R

Hi, Astar and Rawhinia are quite busy at the moment cooking for a fundraiser (they will tell you about it next week). They have asked me to do the post for this week.



Rawhinia and Astar ten years old performing in orchestra
 I thought that you might be interested in hearing about their compositions. It was just after the bush fire that decimated Melbourne. The Orchestra was to be performing at a golf club on the Sunshine Coast and the conductor asked the children in the string orchestra if anyone of them wanted to perform a solo. If so, could they bring the piece of music in the following week for approval. Well, the girls came home and looked through their music. They didn't think that any of the pieces were appropriate for the concert but, they still wanting to do a solo. So they sat down with the idea of composing a piece each. Rawhinia decided to compose a piece of music called "Black Sunday" (the day after the bush fire). Rawhinia wanted to portray the deep sadness that the people effected by the fire were feeling and that in amongst all the destruction there is renewed life. It took Rawhinia half an hour to compose the piece that goes for around 4 min. When she played it at the concert people were brought to tears. Rawhinia is very sensitive and has a gift for conveying her message. Astar decided to work on a different type of music. She called here piece "Stella The Birth of a Star". Her piece is full of life - exciting, stimulating and fast. "Stella" is all about a star being created in the cosmos. Astar's composition took a couple of hours to compose and lasts for around 4 min. When Astar played "Stella" the crowd roared in cheer. 

Part of the crowd, not even standing room left.
  After the performance we were approached by professional musicians complementing the girls on their compositions and asking them where they had learnt to compose! To their astonishment Astar and Rawhinia had never learnt composition and at that stage had not even started to do music theory!
They were only ten years old.
I am not  musical and unfortunately  don't have any friends that are. Imagine what they could do if they had someone to teach/help them!

Tune in to next weeks post with A & R

Cheers  Katusha

Sunday, 29 May 2011

Busking

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon,   A & R

Well it was a beautiful weekend! On Saturday we went busking on the Sunshine Coast at the markets. It's so much fun, especially because you are so close to the people listening. You can really see that they are enjoying the music. The money we made busking is to go towards our trip. We are still trying to come up with ideas of how we can raise the funds. So, if you have any ideas please let us know. You can contact us through our Contact Us Page. Also if you are new to our blog have a look at our History Page and our Video Page.

Then on Sunday, because the sun was still shining, we worked in our green house. At the moment we are experimenting on different plants to see what will grow from cuttings. This is one of our projects for school this term. We will be posting again on Monday.
Nana has updated the Healthy Hints page and is talking about turning a nightmare into a positive, so have a read. It's a cool story.

Tune in Soon  A & R

Sunday, 22 May 2011

A String With a Difference

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon,   A & R

Hi everyone. We thought that we would tell you about violin strings. There are so many different types of strings. When we started playing violin we had no idea of the different quality of strings that you can choose from. Strings range in price, starting with very cheap and going up to quite expensive. As you get better at playing the violin and start to try the different strings you notice that there is a big difference in the tone that the strings make when played. We like to use 'Larsen' strings which are silver strings and an OK price. But we have just got a new E string (because they break and need replacing) and it is a gold string (not much more expensive than silver). It is amazing. The sound is so smooth, it's just beautiful to play on!!!!!!!
We have been asked to do the music for a wedding which is exciting. We used to live near the bride-to-be when we started on the violin. She was lucky enough to hear us play 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' badly for months! We have improved quite a bit since then. Ha Ha! We will be playing
1 - Hornpipe from Handel's Water music
2 - Pachelbels Canon
3 - Flower Duet from Lakme - Delibes
4 - Winter - Vivaldi
5 - Dream a Little Dream of Me

And a couple of others yet to be chosen.
The wedding is on 24th June - we will let you know how we go.
We are planning to go busking next weekend to raise some more money for our trip. Don't forget if you would like to help us get to Europe you can contact us or donate on the Support Us page.
We will be posting again on Monday next week.

Tune in Soon   A & R

Sunday, 15 May 2011

Winter in OZ

Hi, Welcome to our Journey
As you can see we are identical twins and very passionate about music especially violin. We are 12 years old and have been given a wonderful opportunity to go to the UK for a musical educational experience, including meeting up with Nigel Kennedy (the famous violinist). We just need some help getting there.
To read more have a look at Our History page.
Tune in soon,   A & R


 Winter is nearly here!

Our Pumpkins

Hi, well it is now already getting cold. At our house we have been putting the fire on (in the pot belly stove) every night for a week now. There is nothing quite like sitting by the fire with a good book. Another thing that is great about winter is all the wonderful soups and, fortunately for us, our pumpkin vine (that we planted in December) is packed full of pumpkins! We counted 32 in an area of about 20 square metres. Last night we made our hearty vegetable soup and tonight we are having pumpkin soup. We have put the recipes on our Recipe page for you to try. Did you know that they call these pumpkins JAP Pumpkins which stands for 'Just Another Pumpkin', there is a strange fact for you!


Astar and Rawhinia playing for sponsor
 Today one of our sponsors came for afternoon tea. Here we are thanking our sponsor by giving him a private performance. We played some Vivaldi concertos, 'The Pirates Of The Caribbean', 'Allegro, 'Hope Tells a Flattering Tale', 'Take to the Hills' and some other duets. It was a great afternoon!
By the way the painting in the background was painted by Nana. She loves to paint and is very good at it!!! Nana has posted a new healthy tip, this time about Honey check it out on out Healthy Hints page.
We will be posting again next Monday.


Tune in soon  A & R

Sunday, 8 May 2011

Mothers Day




Mum's Special Day


Happy Mum's Day

First we want to say that we hope that all the mum's had a wonderful weekend!!!!
We had a great weekend! On Saturday the orchestra that we play in had a Mum's Day concert. It was so much fun, we love orchestra because the music is great and we have such great friends. Then in the afternoon we snuck over to Nana's house and made a cake for mum. On Sunday we went for a picnic in the Rain Forest. It was a perfect day. Lots of assignments this term so we are quite busy but we will post a new blog soon.

Tune in soon  A & R

P.S. Nana is a published author on health. Nana has updated the Healthy Hints page so check it out.