Sadly/Happily

Emma began taking violin lessons when she was 7 years old, just starting 2nd grade. Nine years later she has done so well, getting most of the way through book 4 of the Suzuki Violin Method. She loves playing in her school orchestra, she loves learning her music for This is the Place, she loves figuring out tunes on her own. I actually think she has the beginnings of perfect pitch. You can play a note and in general she knows what note you're playing. It's pretty amazing. 

But.....violin lessons and practicing her required stuff for her teacher had become quite a struggle. She kind of started hating the pieces she was working on and really dreaded practicing and started digging in her heels about stuff. Violin was clearly not her highest priority any more and I was really feeling sad about it. To have the amazing blessing of taking lessons from my very best friend, and really having developed some skill. I decided I try my hand at being a stern parent and told Emma that she could quit violin when she graduated high school.

Spectacular failure. Emma was beyond furious and couldn't even look at me for a whole day. I decided to ask Becky's opinion and Becky, who is always wise, just told me that sometimes kids get as far as they want to get on the violin and then they want to be done. And she said it's ok - and it's not a good idea to force kids to do it. We want to foster happy good feelings about music. I know that a lot of people require their kids to take music lessons and I wanted to be like that too. But suddenly it just seemed like I was causing damage and it wasn't going to help Emma at all.

So guess what I did. I let Emma quit. And....I took her place. THAT'S RIGHT!! I'm now a violin student of Becky. It's so funny actually. I never really imagined myself as a violin player, but watching my kids take lessons and resisting doing exactly what the teachers says to do for years and years made me want to just do it myself, and do it completely. It's so much fun. Becky and I are perfect for each other. Not only am I really enjoying playing the violin, but it's like scratching an itch to practice every single day, fill in every box, and hear Becky say, "Good job. That task is complete." It's like pushing a giant endorphin button, which doesn't happen in the hazy world of parenting where no job ever feels done and who knows if you did it right. And I'm equally healthy for Becky! Do you know how rare it is for a student to practice every single day and do every single thing on the list exactly as many times as she says to do it? It's heaven for us both. Plus I'm learning to play the violin and I really like it. 

First Day of School!

Emma still plays with the school orchestra and played beautifully at work. I wonder if she'll ever go back to lessons. I have no idea, although she did declare that she wants to be a music major in college. Seems like violin lessons would be helpful in that situation, but hey, the ball is now in her court. In the mean time, I passed off my twinkles in the first week and am almost done with book one after 9 weeks of lessons. So there.

Check out that bow hold