too much going on

I can't believe how infrequently I post anymore. I guess the lack of progress on all fronts is not much to write about. I probably exaggerate.

So where are we? Tess is now trying to get the bowings corrected for Happy Farmer. I've been letting her practice it all wrong, due to frequent inattentiveness. Now certain bad habits are ingrained. I hope we can undo the damage before the spring recital... otherwise she will be doing something safer, Minuet Three. Alicia has begun to work with Tess on her vibratto. This is fun to watch. I have always been mystified by the technique. In fact, I was so happy on Tuesday when Alicia explained how to get a vibratto on an open string note. very satisfying. Because my note-taking is so poor, I've been taking more video at lessons. I'm hoping to get some more of them uploaded onto YouTube eventually. See video

Julien is doing well with viola at Wendy's studio. The spring concert was on Tuesday evening. They do not do solo recitals. The studio concert was very impressive, I thought. They did Pachelbel Canon. Jules opted out of that one-- didn't feel ready.

She did play several songs, including May Song. I thought she did a wonderful job. Too bad I am so scatterbrained that we actually left her nice dress at home! We had to go to Vespers and then all the kids were going to change into their recital clothes before heading over. Tess and Graham's clothes were in the bag, but not Julien's dress. In a pinch, I had her put on Tessie's little dress. Luckily Julien was able to squeeze into it. Tess went casual...

Wendy had the parents play Twinkle at the recital rehearsal. So I rented my own violin finally and am trying to learn how to Twinkle. It is so much harder than I thought it would be. I cannot coordinate the fingers and the bowhand. I am too slow. But it is fun to try. My father called me today on his way home from work. He was so happy because he had heard from my mom that I had rented an instrument. His classic joke with us is: "I am going to start my guitar lessons on Monday." Our whole lives we have been waiting for him to start his guitar lessons. He never has.

Comments

[Miranda]

Hey, thanks for the update. That's great-looking posture in the photo! And vibrato ... wow! That's pretty neat stuff for a book 1 kid. My kids didn't start vibrato until early Book 3. Though I've occasionally taught it as early as end-of-Book-1. She must be well set up; that's a great vote of confidence.

Oh, I couldn't get your YouTube link to work -- bad URL or whatever. FWIW.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the post. I've missed hearing what's up with you and your little string players.