We had three very Benny moments today.

1. Today at Homeschool Bowling League, which I march myself to by the elbow every week because Benny loves it so much, he bowled a STRIKE. A real strike, straight down the middle of the lane, not using the bumpers to ricochet the ball! It was a glorious moment. He turned around, pumped his fist in the air, and shouted: "GOAL COMPLETED." Not "Yes!" or "Yeah!" or "Strike!" or whatever the other children typically say, but "GOAL COMPLETED." On the way to the van he told me he was going to cross this off his list of goals. The existence of a goal list was news to me, and I asked him what else is on it. The answer: "Bowl a double strike." HAHAHA. Lofty!

2. We were driving through downtown Norfolk and we saw, moored by the Spirit of Norfolk, a really big, cool, tall ship that was clearly from some Scandinavian country, or maybe the Netherlands, or... something? I couldn't remember what the flag was supposed to be from. I asked Benny if he knew, and he thought it might be Norway, but I knew it wasn't Norway. So, anyway, I whipped out the cell phone and tossed it to Benny so we could blog it and then ask Dan. He's pointing the phone out the window, and I'm sitting at a red light saying, "Take the picture! Take the picture!" and he's saying "Where, where?" and pointing the camera all over the place. Now, keep in mind we have just been discussing this flag that we were BOTH looking at and guessing the origin of, and now he can't even find the SHIP to take a picture of it? I said, "Benny, the BIG SHIP that's RIGHT OVER THERE." And he said, "Oh, it was behind that tree." Click. Green light. Move on.

3. Later, it is group violin class. The children are playing a piece (Waltz from Book 2 for those of you Suzukians out there) that requires some swaying and movement -- a piece you're supposed to feel. And Mrs. Stevens said for them to be more "emotional." One of the older girls objected to the use of the word "emotional" because in common usage it is synonymous with crying. So Mrs. Stevens asked them to come up with a better word and then turned to Benny and said, "Benny, do you know another word for emotional?" and Benny said, "What do you mean by emotional?" He delivered the word "emotional" as if it were a word in some strange foreign tongue from a forgotten era. Now, Benny is actually very emotional, and very in touch with his emotions. He sometimes even now recognizes that other people might be having emotions too! But it just seemed like such a hilariously typical hyperlexic response, I had to guffaw. What do you mean by this... emotional? *cackle*

Tomorrow is all about packing for Disney World. Must not forget mouse ears.

Labels: benny, bowling, violin

Tomorrow is the last day to practice your violin and color in pumpkins! Because tomorrow is....



HALLOWEEN.

Here's a picture of Sadie before her violin lesson today, to go along with the picture of Sadie's pumpkin plan, above. Drawn by Sadie, faithfully and dutifully carved by me.



So -- did you color in all your pumpkins? I have to admit that we here at our house did not! I don't know whether it was the Boston trip or Halloween fever, but we did not faithfully keep track of our practices, even though the chart was right on the fridge, so I'm not really sure whether we practiced enough times to get them all colored in, and I'm not going to guess. My feeling is that Benny has more than enough, and Sadie has about half. So, instead of counting, on November 1, I'm going to give them each a certificate that says "MANY MANY" in the space for the number of practices, and call it a month. Honest, oh that's me. Lame, but honest.

I hope that you have been more virtuous at keeping track than I have! I want to give away this medallion to some marvelous child who has spent October sawing madly away on the violin! If you finished the challenge, please send me a message with a link to your blog, and a picture of your child (not necessary, but I'd like to post it!) My address is jackets at rpsd.com.

A little video from Sadie's lesson! Mrs. Ford was having the girls answer back and forth with their violins:

Labels: suzuki violin, violin

With JOY? Yes, and joy without sugar! Now usually, I just use candy to produce joy. One tiny M&M per accomplishment yields enough joy to get us through an average day's practice. BUT! Let's say you have a moral opposition to M&Ms.

Or your child has just eaten the frosting off three cupcakes and you think the addition of one more chocolate molecule would turn her into a giant squid. Here's a game to play with a violin practice that will make it fun and sugar-free.

1. Make your programs!

How many times do you want your child to repeat her assignment? In Sadie's case, we are working on the very first part of variation A, and I want her to go through it six times per practice. So we made six programs. The programs were each 1/3 of a sheet of paper, and they said TUKA TUKA STOP STOP in big letters. Of course, this is a good time to practice letters. You will also need a sheet of stickers, any size, for later.

2. Collect your audience!

Walk through the house, with a megaphone if you have one, calling, "Who wants to come to a violin show?" Collect whichever dolls/toys/animals are interested in the performance. Arrange them like an audience, and distribute the programs. Of course, your violin student will want to participate in all this, as is right and proper and educational.

3. Start the show!

Give the child a big introduction and let him/her take over. You be the audience. Maybe the dolls will heckle, and have to be subdued. Maybe the animals will have many questions about the parts of the violin. Maybe the action figures will shriek for more, more, more Twinkle Little Star.

4. Bring on the stickers!

Every time the child plays the song (in Sadie's case the first phrase of Twinkle, all the way through, with violin hand and bow hand working together) she gets a sticker to put on the program of one of toys. Beware -- all the toys will clamor for a sticker and demand a certain one, or a certain color, and be difficult. When every program has a sticker, the practice is over, EVEN IF THE CHILD WANTS TO DO MORE. Next time, you can pass out the programs again, and everyone can get another sticker. Until then, Buzz Lightyear and Barbie will just have to hum Twinkle to themselves.

There you have it! Today's method. Is it worth it, for forty-eight tuka-tuka-stop-stops? Absolutely. Dr. Suzuki recommended five minutes with JOY. How we bring about the joy is up to us. Watch this space for more diabolical violin practice manipulations!

Edit: Hey, I just found a very cool post on awesome gadgety violin tricks from my friend Karen.

Labels: how to, practice, sadie, suzuki, suzuki violin, violin

Last weekend, Benny and Sadie attended a workshop with Judy Blank, a fabulous Suzuki expert from Ann Arbor, MI. The workshop included group classes, violin-related art classes, play-ins, and a master class with Mrs. Blank. It was a great experience for them, and also very interesting for me.

Watching the master classes was pretty incredible -- Mrs. Blank was like a doctor -- listening to each child play one song, diagnosing some certain issue, and giving the child a small, specific change that they could make in just a few minutes to improve their playing. Of course, all of this had to happen while using the most positive language, never making the child feel criticized or like there was something wrong. It was amazing how she accomplished this in such a short time with each child -- every one of them made a noticeable improvement. Truly a gift.

Here are some videos and pictures from the weekend:

Sadie was the smallest in her group and also the only girl! Sadie's group class with Mrs. Morton:



Mrs. Morton's early book one class doing Perpetual Motion:



At the first Play-in, playing Allegro like mosquitoes and elephants:



Benny and Mrs. Blank playing the first Seitz in Suzuki Book 4. Mrs. Blank had lots of silly stories to go along with the music, to help the kids understand the phrasing. We particularly enjoyed the one for Gavotte in G Minor which was all about the death of multiple goldfish.



More videos on my YouTube Channel.

Here's Sadie in her art class:



Benny and Sean hanging out between classes:



Sadie's group class:



Benny standing up for Seitz at the final play-in:



Benny and Mrs. Blank:



More photos on my Flickr.

We were very grateful for the experience. It made for a very interesting weekend. I think all the kids had a great time and will be looking forward to next year.

Labels: judy blank, music, suzuki, violin, workshop

It's October! The glow of the new semester has dulled somewhat, the crunch for holiday recitals has not yet begun, and everyone would rather think about cider and Halloween. The violins are still coming out, but they're coming out with a tiny bit less joy than they came out in September, and a tiny bit less urgency than they will come out in November, I predict. Still, Dr. Suzuki says we should only practice on the days that we eat!

Time for the first and only, spookeriffic, autumnimous Little Blue School Violin Practice Challenge!

First, print out the practice chart:

PDF Version Large JPG Version
Remember to choose "Landscape"
Choose "Shrink to Fit" when printing the JPG

Color in a pumpkin for every time you practice your instrument. If you've already played it fifteen times in October, then you're already ahead! Color fifteen pumpkins immediately and go to the front of the line!

At the end of the month, you can print out this certificate, get the appropriate name, number of practices, and signatures in place, and award it to the stellar violinist(s) in your family.

PDF Version Large JPG Version
Remember to choose "Landscape"
Choose "Shrink to Fit" when printing the JPG

Now for the exciting part (for me). If you're doing the challenge, please comment or email me to let me know that you will be completing it. I'll choose one name out of a hat, and send that child this special October edition of my violin practice award medallions:

I have several other medallions available in my Etsy Shop, but this is one is different! It's orange and black, thus making it Octobermatic and extra-desirable. Plus, to the winner, it is free and I will ship it anywhere in the entire world.

Here's a side note: I am working on putting together a page linking to as many YouTube videos of Suzuki violin students as I can find. Sort of a virtual concert. Do you have one? Let me know! My email address is jackets at rpsd.com. Spread the word!

Labels: challenge, halloween, music, october, practice, printables, suzuki, violin

You have to hand it to Benny, he doesn't grow moss on his violin. Here we are a little over six months after his Book 2 graduation, and he's done with Book 3 already. People ask me sometimes how I get him to practice. Those who have been in the house with us know that he will happily play the violin all day long. The question is how to get him to practice correctly. We all know he can memorize songs quickly and learn all the notes. But how do we get his playing technique to measure up to his ability to digest and deliver the music?

In the weeks leading up to Benny's graduation recital from Suzuki Book 3, his teacher, the gifted and glamorous Mrs. Ford, had one goal and one goal only. And that was to get him to correct his bow hold. His thumb, it was concave when it should be convex. His pinky, it was falling over the bow when it should be perched on top. His fingers, they were pinching the stick when they should have been draped around it. It was a mess.

Now, how does this happen? Was he not trained to hold his bow correctly? Of course he was. But there's alway something sliding off the bus, as you're scurrying to secure the rest of the load. A few months ago, we were worried about the fingers on his violin hand -- they were too flat. Now the bow hold. Next it'll be something else slipping toward the edge. You have to keep on top of these things.

That's why in the Suzuki method, it's not okay to just listen to the child practice from the other room. You have to be in there with them, pointing things out, encouraging, correcting, monitoring. Does this always endear you to the young snipe who would rather go romping along at top speed missing half the notes? Not especially. But it does mean that after weeks of work, he does have a proper bow hold for his graduation recital. Thanks to his hard work, his teacher's perseverance, and my watchful eye. ;)

Here are some pictures from the event. There was a pirate theme to the reception that followed the recital, and no he did not play the violin dressed as a pirate. I was trying to be respectful of the other children that were also graduating, and had been warned against turning it into a circus. What's wrong with the circus? Hehehe.



The moms set up the party table as the kids have their "Play In" before the recital.



Benny playing one of his pieces.



Benny receiving his graduation certificate.



Pirate violinist and his little sister Sadie Grace.

Now we are on to Book 4 with a new teacher and a new appreciation for double stops. Look out, Vivaldi!

Labels: benny, violin

Sadie's last Prezuki class is coming up. So after two semesters of baby violin education, what has she learned?



She's learned to sit in a circle, wait her turn, and separate from Mommy's lap to interact with her teacher independently.

She learned to give up teaching tools like puppets, instruments, and silk flowers, when that part of the lesson was over, even if she didn't want to put it away.

She learned to hold her "foam-a-lin" under her chin with proper position and walk around the room with it held firmly in place by the weight of her head, without using her hands.



She learned to hold her bow with her thumb bent and her pinky on top, her fingers relaxed, and bow rhythms on her shoulder.

She learned to play the drum in rhythm with a song, and how to sync up with the other kids in the class so that they all played the drum in unison.

She learned to thank her teacher for teaching her and her mother for bringing her to class.

She learned to sing on pitch and she learned the difference between high notes and low notes. She learned what an E string sounds like and what an A string sounds like and started learning to hear fifths.

She learned to distinguish between her different fingers on her violin hand, and did strengthening exercises with each one, to boost those fine motor skills.



She learned how to sing scales, with songs about bugs and pussy willows and other silliness. She learned about ascending and descending by climbing stairs with her teacher.

She learned to concentrate on her teacher's directions, and copy instructions. She was taught to focus in increasing intervals, gently and with patience.

She learned lots of fun songs and dances. She learned to look forward to violin class as an interesting time to play and learn.

She learned to respect her classmates and help them, work together with them to accomplish the teacher's directions. She learned to listen and respond.



She learned that music is fun!

When she starts her "real" violin lessons with her actual violin, she will know exactly what to expect and how to behave. What a wonderful experience Prezuki has been. Thank you Mrs. Ford for another excellent class!

Labels: sadie, violin

Yesterday we went to Angelico Violins. They recently moved from near ODU to this gorgeous new store in Chesapeake. If you haven't visited their new location, it's definitely something to look forward to! A whole new feeling in the place, and right on the water with a terrace and huge windows. Delightful!

SInce Sadie has been dragging Benny's violin around the house, Mrs. Ford and I agreed she might be able to have her own violin. Here she is getting fitted for her instrument:





She was delighted to get her very own violin!



We had to wait for a while as the lady there cleaned Benny's violin and changed the strings, but we were not at a loss for entertainment. While in the store, Benny and Sadie both had a blast jamming on the junior drum kits.



They are growing up. *sniff* Bring on Tuka Tuka Stop Stop! :D

Labels: sadie, violin

Benny had two violin performances this weekend.



The first was the Academy of Music's Bach Festival on Sunday night, which was hosted by the Kempsville Presbyterian Church. This was a character-building experience, since was two hours long, right around the children's bed time, and we brought Sadie Grace with us. Both of them were very well-behaved, on the whole. Sadie did rearrange all the little tiny pencils in the pews, and Benny did at one point say the words, "YOU be quiet." Which is pretty unsustainable. But, he played well, and both the kids got to see a lot of much older children playing difficult and serious piececs with earnest concentration, which is a good thing for them to see. Now that Benny is into book 3, and there aren't that many kids in his usual recital group that are ahead of him, it's good for him to see that he still has a long way to go, and to witness some kids getting to play those *really* exciting pieces.

Here's Benny playing "Musette" by J.S. Bach:



Here's a picture of Benny and Sadie with some of their musical friends:



The second performance was a luncheon at the Jewish Community Center in Virginia Beach. The Academy of Music was asked to provide some entertainment, and since only homeschoolers were available to show up at 1:00pm on a Monday, it was an all-homeschoolers performance! Sean, Benny, and Adam entertained the seniors at the luncheon, and Mrs. Ford gave a little talk about the Suzuki method. The highlight of the event was the premier of an original composition by one of the students. Adam, who is 15, has written several pieces, and this one is called "Duet #1 in G Minor." He performed it with Mrs. Ford and it was a big hit:



Adam is great, isn't he?!?! A local gem. If you want, you can go to this YouTube page where this is hosted, and comment on his movie. That would be awesome.

Here's a picture of Benny and Sean warming up before the performance.



So, a very violincentric weekend. There were ups and downs, of course. On Sunday night, when Benny finished with Musette, he hollered out this from the stage: "Hey, did you see when I put my hand way up here on the fingerboard? That is a HARMONIC." Yes, he was the only child to address the audience, and in such a kindly patronizing tone too. *roll eyes* And then there was the moment when he decided to try and play "Happy Farmer" with only one finger down on his bow hand... a real patience tester for his longsuffering teacher.

On the whole, though, I have to say that life with Benny and Sadie is never dull. Exasperating, exciting, interesting, annoying, thrilling, and never ever dull.

Labels: music, violin

Benny had his Book 2 Graduation Recital last week. That's right. No more Chorus. No more Musette. No more Lully Gavotte! I'm just so... HAPPY.

It was a festive night. Because it was on election day, we decided to do a patriotic theme. Sadie wore the Uncle Sam outfit that Benny used to campaign for John Kerry in 2004. I added a flower to the lapel and did a ceremonial smudging with sage-and-citrus fabric spray from Yankee Candle, to remove all those John Kerry-ish residual energies. The man of the hour, Benny wore a flag jacket that I made immediately before the recital.

It's important to have a theme and dress up and create a lavish buffet for these events. We just don't have enough to do without extending ourselves in this way. Fortunately the buffet was handled by Ahno, so all I had to do was make sure the kid practiced his songs, and of course create the patriotic fashions.

Here's a picture of the kids in their outfits:



Here's a picture of Benny with his awesome violin teacher, Mrs. Ford, at the Academy of Music:



Here's a video of Benny playing Bourree by Handel. He kept doing the repeat again and again until Mrs. Ford kindly prompted him to move on to the run that starts with F sharp. :D His *fantastic* accompanist, Mrs. Pougher, never missed a beat.



Here's a side note, as I write this blog: Benny heard the video playing, and was walking around the downstairs looking for the source. I saw him putting his ear up to the baby monitor, and then he asked me, "Mommy, where is the Book 2 CD coming from? Is it upstairs?" I said, "That's not the CD, baby, it's you." He said, very quietly, "Is that music coming from inside my head?" Hehehe. NO, it's not your imagination, it's YOUTUBE, Benny! *cackle*

The recital was fantastic. Benny and another student at the Academy both graduated from Book 2 at the age of six and a half, which is pretty impressive. It *was* impressive that he played well, and that he remembered his songs, and that he had such poise and aplomb in front of his audience. He

What pleased me the most, however, was the fact that I saw him specifically thinking about things we had worked on that week, and I saw him specifically trying to implement little things that Mrs. Ford had taught him. To witness him really trying to do his best, and really engaging his brain in the music, and not just whanging through it any old how, to get to the end, while he's thinking about the chandelier (as often happens in his performance situations) was really fantastic. The child is growing up.

Labels: music, violin

Today my two-year-old daughter took her first step in her journey to her first violin recital, where I will dress her in a spun sugar gown and cry while she plays Twinkle Little Star.

My son has been taking violin lessons since he was three and a half. He's been studying at the knee of Mrs. Ford, who is amazing and wonderful, as I've had occasion to report many times before. Watching Mrs. Ford teach tiny children to play the violin has been a real education for me as well, not just in music but in how to treat children, and how to get the best out of them. She is, in my opinion, a magician.

Those of us who are true believers in the Suzuki method have a hard time waiting for our kids to be old enough to start. We sit around checking their motor skills -- could she hold the violin yet? Can she clap a rhythm? Can she stand still long enough to get through a measure of music? We sit on the waiting list at the Academy of Music, staking out our time slot in Mrs. Ford's schedule... and we wait.

Mrs. Ford, bless her, has now invented "Prezuki" for the two and three year old kids waiting to start Suzuki. It's a pre-violin play class about listening to music, rhythms, using different instruments... it's kind of like Mommy and Me music but with an emphasis on pre-violin skills. They're learning rest position and play position with their feet. They're learning to hold little things on their shoulders. They're learning to wave a sparkly wand like a violin bow -- so cool!!!

Here's Sadie on her first day of class:



And here she is holding the foam violin they'll be learning with. Unbreakable, light, and shaped like a real fiddle! Awesome!



If you can't wait for your child to start sawing away on the violin, and those Twinkle classes seem too far away, you should definitely, definitely, absolutely check out the Prezuki class at the Academy of Music.

Labels: violin

Benny's violin recital was on Saturday. Another semester is gone, and he's hurtling toward competence on his instrument. Somebody hold me.

Everyone's favorite part of the show is always the teeny little kids. We all hope someone will pull up his shirt and show his bellybutton, or pick his nose with his tuning pegs, or sit on his classmate and make her squawk. This is just true, in every type of kid performance. The kindergarten pageant always holds more interest than the fifth grade one. Do we really get suspenseful and fluttery about the 10 year old who has clocked 15 recitals now, and has no surprises left, who will dutifully and virtuously play her solo without flaw? Well, no. Not even the mother of such a child can muster nerves for that experience.

Benny is now in that group. Okay, he's only six, and there's still a strong possibility that he will scratch his bottom with his bow, or start talking about his biceps in the middle of his group's performance, but he is now in that oldest group, that group that everyone politely clucks for, but no one weeps over. Except me of course. I was weeping. I sniffled when the tiny little people were up there showing how they'd learned to hold the violin, and how to take a bow, and how to sing the musical alphabet, and I leaked tears when Benny's group did their gavottes and bourrees. And when the whole game of them got up to play a final rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" I was in need of a bucket to hold my tissue. That's just how I am. Moved.



That's a picture of all the Academy of Music students on stage together playing Twinkle, the Suzuki anthem. Benny's teacher, Sarah Ford, has shepherded him with total patience and love from the days where he was a nose-picker who could only bow to these days recently where he's up there casually playing with the big kids. Bless her. I'm so grateful.

It's the Suzuki way to play all the songs you know, and sit down when other kids are playing a song you can't play yet. Benny played all the songs. He led his group (the book 2 and 3 group) in a song, demonstrating everything they've been learning this year in their group class. His group teacher, Cathy Stevens, has been teaching them how to make eye contact, how to move your body to direct a group, how to show dynamics and pauses and generally how to communicate the phrasing you want to a group who's playing along with you. It's a great thing to learn, along with all the right notes and bowing and whatnot. Here's Benny leading his group:



So this time, I didn't get to writhe with pride because my little darling stayed on the stage and faced the right direction. I got to glow because he remembered to cue in the accompanist and raise up his scroll after the formata to bring everyone in. I have mixed feelings about it, obviously. Let's just say that I'm glad Sadie Grace will be starting violin lessons soon. There's time for me as a mommy of a little squirt in the baby group yet.

Labels: outschooling, violin

First he likes art, and now he's using his violin to make music instead of to pick his nose, scratch his ankles, and dig little holes in the stage. Next he'll be eating his breakfast with a fork, and wearing his underpants on his butt. What kind of mixed-up crazy world am I living in? Is my child maturing at last? Or is this a phase, and we can go back to the old way next week? You know, the old way, where he played the wrong song at the wrong time and then wandered off the stage to pick a daisy or tell a stranger that he likes Hondas, while the other kids all played Twinkle.

Every time the Arts Festival takes over Stockley Gardens, the Suzuki students of STAHR take over the stage. They are, it cannot be denied, cute. The sight of all those little darlings, sawing away on their fractional violins, is guaranteed to make you smile, if not weep copiously, like I do. I juggle the phone camera and the video camera and the still camera, and the baby stroller, and people say, "When did he start playing?" and I say, "He was three," and they can't believe the violins come that small. Usually Benny gets up and plays his solo backward or falls off the stage or something. This year he was dramatically civilized.

I wish I could say I miss the old days, when other parents thumped me on the back sympathetically and said, "Well, he is very entertaining!" Of course, those days will probably be back. I can't dare to hope we have turned an actual corner. It must be a phase. I won't let myself believe otherwise.

You can't see the Suzuki kids tomorrow, because they already played. But you can go and see the art. Where else can you walk around on a sunny day and view interesting art while eating Ben and Jerry's, or even that difficult looking nightmare chicken part that I saw smoking half-cooked ona giant grill today? It's happening tomorrow until 6pm. It's free, it's fun, and it's probably safe to eat by now! You can bring your dog.

Labels: art, field trips, violin