Violin Concerts

Owen had his first group Suzuki concert this last Saturday. He played Variation B of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Click here to view.

Ryanna broke away from the typical Suzuki songs and played Mosquito Dance by Ludwig Mendelssohn. Click here. They both did a great job!

Violin Medley

Ryanna played this hymn medley in church today. It sounded even prettier than it does here. She did such a beautiful job and we had so many people tell her how it touched them and how impressed they were with her memorization. We love to hear her play her violin. To see, click here.

Two Violin Concerts

Ryanna had two violin concerts this month. She did excellent in both and I thought I'd share her songs. This first video is Gavotte from Mignon. Unfortunately we only were able to practice with this piano player one time and as you can see from the performance, she wasn't able to quite keep up with the violin. This performance was the first time Ryanna has started the song instead of having an introduction by the piano. She did awesome!!!!

The second video is Ryanna playing Minuet in G by Beethoven. I think the trickiest thing about this song is the bowing. Remembering whether you're supposed to be going up a second time or down. I thought she did really well in this performance too. She really rises to the occasion--so different than I am in front of a crowd. I get soooo nervous for her, but she's always ready. I'm so proud of all of her hard work. We only have to put together this last couple measures of Minuet by Boccherini and we're on to book three!

Unfortunately, Blogger is being ridiculous and after an entire day of trying to load the second video, I have given up and posted it on youtube instead. The link is here.

Etude

Here's our latest violin concert. I wish that I would've been more aggressive and gotten right in the front row, so I could've heard only her vioin and not the side noise that got in, but at least it's recorded. Ryanna did an excellent job. Our little performer. She never even gets nervous.

Perpetual Motion

Today was Ryanna's violin concert and she did an excellent job. She played Suzuki's Perpetual Motion which has been quite a tricky song to learn. As you'd guess from the name, it is a bit of a circular song using the A Major scale. She was having problems remembering if she'd played the E ending or the A ending and then moving to the next section, however, she worked incredibly hard this week and put on such a wonderful performance. As you can tell from her teacher's big smile at the end, she was very proud too. I only wish I'd captured her wonderful bow that she does. (I was too excited to clap for her and turned off the camera.)
Please leave your comments for her here and I'll read them to her--she'll be very excited.

Click here for the video.

How to Play Jingle Bells Without Looking at Your Violin

So, Ryanna's violin concert was this morning. I was very happy to see that several kids who are older than her were playing the same song she was "Jingle Bells." I also am happy to report that she can play "Jolly, Old St. Nicholaus" and has learned the beginning of "Joy to the World" as well.
Now, we have been talking for weeks about her playing for this recital. One of the biggest problems for her in the last year is she is a people watcher violin player. This means that instead of looking at her violin, she'll learn a song so well that she won't even look at her instrument while she plays the song.
This was exactly what happened today. Since she wasn't looking at her instrument, she also played herself completely off her strings which caused her to lose her grip on her bow. She played on though. The crowd cheers---she played on, she played on! You can't see it especially well, but she's holding her bow a really crazy way after she loses her grip. She caught right back up to the music though. She did a great job overall. She played it perfectly three times before we left the house, but we apparently aren't nearly as fun to watch. Also, I have a video of her teacher playing a song as well. It's beautiful! I mean, it's not Jingle Bells, but it'll do--hee, hee.
If you can't get these video below to work, please go here and watch the video.
PLEASE let me know if you were able to view these videos on my blog or if you had to go to youtube.

How do you teach this?

Ryanna had her third violin concert in her life Saturday. I was really excited for her because she has progressed so much in her abilities the last couple of months. We took the summer off because her teacher was gone and we were terrible about practicing...pretty much didn't practice to be honest, but boy did we have good intentions. I didn't know how it would be starting up again this August and I have been pleasantly surprised by her improvements in so many areas--bow hold, fingering, speed, etc. There is a lot to think about when you play a violin.

I signed her up to do this concert at one of the group lessons she takes every other Saturday. They have children of all ages and abilities that perform. Ryanna's teacher, Mrs. Bowling, had decided that it would be good for Ryanna to play the theme to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I agreed, she had really grasped the song well. Seriously, she's been able to play this song without any errors for several weeks. I was really excited about the concert.

A brief history about Ryanna's violin concerts...She was always a bit shaky on the songs she was going to perform before the past two recitals. I never knew how she would do. I was always excited and anxious for her. She apparently has the ability to rise to the occassion and do well. With this history in mind, I knew she was going to rock this concert. She was so prepared.

Imagine my surprise when she got lost playing her song on Saturday. Here she was the first performer (she always is because she's always the youngest person playing the easiest song) and she started the song beautifully. I was really pleased and all of a sudden, she forgot to repeat the middle section. Oh no! I was worried for only a split second because not only does she rise to the challenge of these pressure filled events, but she is very good at finding her place in the music if she misses a note.

Well, this time she didn't. She wasn't able to find that note right away like she's so talented at doing. She wasn't able to act as though she slightly missed it. She got lost. She did eventually pick up with her teacher and finish the performance. She bowed...(I love her bows) and everyone clapped of course.

Honestly, I felt badly for her. She KNOWS this song better than any other song she's ever done before. We've practiced this song over and over. Not to the point where it's obnoxious because she knows it so well there has been no need. I couldn't help but wish it had been perfect. I wanted her to shine on her special day. Her grandma drove down from Colorado and we even had some good friends, Jack & Annie & their little girl, come and watch.

After the performance she went and sat down to finish listening to all the other performers. She didn't cry or seem distressed at all. After the concert finished, she came up to me and I told her good job, but I couldn't help but ask her what had happened. She didn't seem to know exactly herself.

We went to get gelatto afterward and had a good time as a family celebrating her performance. She had done the best she could after all.

I just wonder, how do you teach your child to strive for their best and be slightly disappointed that they didn't reach it and want to do even better next time? How do you do it without making them feel like they aren't good enough? How do you let them know that they are so perfect to you in every way, but you want them to reach their full potential, but not heap so much pressure on them that they always feel inadequate?

I struggle with this because I know I have felt this way. I know my potential in different areas and I know that I'm not reaching it all the time. I remember as a child wanting to please eveyone so badly and feeling their disappointment when I wasn't reaching expectations. Honestly, it definitely helped me to excel, but is it good? I don't want to be one of those parents you hear about who are vicariously living their lives through their children. You know those parents on the bleachers who are freaking out about their child missing the shot or the goal or the pass opportunity. That's not me. I want to be encouraging without demanding. I want my child to want for herself to achieve.

When Ryanna and I did a lesson today, we warmed up playing the first four variations that she knows. Then I said, "How about we do the theme now and I'll go get the camera and we can record it?" She said, "Yeah, 'cause I didn't play it right yesterday." My heart kind of sunk when she said that because I wondered, "Did she say that because she recognized it herself or because she could feel my disappointment?"

I realize that I'm imperfect as a parent and I hope that my child can look back and forgive my imperfections as I know I've certainly had to do for my parents. I just want so badly to be a better parent. Isn't that what we all want? To be better than the previous generation? To reach our potential...to feel like we might not have been perfect, but no one could fault us for trying? I think about this all the time. I worry that through my thoughtless words and actions, spoken or performed in haste, I may damage the relationship I have with my children or cause them to lose confidence and trust in me.

I am so proud of her. She is such an amazing child. My gosh, she's playing the violin at four years old!!! I could've never done what she's doing at her age. She's such a great sister to Owen, helper for me, friend to so many. I love her to pieces and I am so proud of my little girl. I hope that she can continue to teach me to be a better parent and remember that we're all works in progress.

(Here is the song from this afternoon. She starts to play the wrong note and catches herself and corrects it. The camera goes crazy a couple of times because I am holding Owen and he was batting the camera. Note: you'll need to turn off the music on the Pumpkin Patch slide show to hear this correctly. If you can't figure out how to do that, you can also view this at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXfu1_Qy7oE)