Comments

Laurie, I heard this story from my teacher - she's done this before - and I think it's incredible. I had such a clear picture in my head of her sitting, smiling, watching the students play her violin, and I bet you're right that she indeed had that in mind when she sold her worldly possessions to have the Amati. :) That really touched me. Laurie, this was an elegantly written entry with a beautiful concept.

I would indeed let the children play the Amati, if I were in her position.

My violin is only about $40,000 and I let my students try it out! The person I coach with ownes a guitar strad and he lets me play it.

It's fun,

PF

"Ok, I'll play your violin. But not your harmonica." actually, the reference to listening and hearing is backwards int eh summary, hearing refers to any recognition of noise or sounds conciously or unconciously, where as listening is considered to be interpretation, attention, and selective hearing of certain things, so you should say "she does more than hears, she listens". just a grammatical thing She actually does more than listen, though. It's listening on an entirely different level. Sort of like when you are talking and talking and explaining and some sympathetic listener says, "I hear you!" Jenni, you are right, it really is touching! And Max and Peter, you both have generous impulses, too. It is so important to help children and students understand and enjoy music! In certain usages "hear" has connotations of extraordinary perception, as does "see." So I have to agree with the suitability of the original sentence, in as much as the intent was an acknowledgement of the skill. However, we must recognize that the sentence does not disclose a particular skill, rather it simply professes it. Dear Laurie
What lovely posts you have given us this week! Helen is an inspiring and funny and elegant and outrageous woman and teacher and you have rekindled wonderful memories of training with her and watching her share her gifts with students on both sides of the Atlantic. Her insight and experience and willingness to share of herself is a model of what Suzuki teaching should be. Enjoy your week and hello to Helen from Vancouver

Jennifer Gray

Helen sounds like a truly inspiring person. Her sharing of her Amati is like sharing her heart. Laurie, the blog entries you have written about her are very inspiring, too.

Re hear and listen: I don't want to get hung up on the semantics because the meaning is clear. However, I've been told that the Chinese language has more than one ideogram for "listen," and one of them shows "listen" with "heart." I believe that's what Helen did.

Thanks for the photos of the students. They make the story seem so real and personal.

Aw, come on Pauline. Should it be hear and listen, or listen and hear? :) How was Ms. Tennant? Where can I sign up for classes with this lady? Not just in playing but in teaching! She sounds amazing! Jim and everyone else, please see my blog, 6/17/05, for my impression of Lady Tennant's performance. I did already. Glad you had a good time. can i sneak into her class and pretend to be a little suzuki kid.... i'm short enough to pass for a kid....