Lucy and Rocky

February 8, 2007 at 2:44 AM

My daughter named her violin "Lucy" and her bow "Rocky." I'm not sure what this means, but I think it's good.

She and Lucy are done with the first Adventures in Violinland book! Hooray! Even though we haven't been religious about doing it every week, it's nice to finish a milestone and move on to the next.

My son is only 3 and sometimes he wants to play too. I had been thinking that he might enjoy Suzuki violin next fall when he's 4. Although my daughter was intimidated by the performance aspect of Suzuki violin, I think my son would love it. He's kind of a ham and loves attention. His sister wants to "teach" him though, and that bugs him. A few days ago he got so mad he threw his violin (my daughter's old 1/4 size) on the ground. Fortunately it wasn't hurt and neither was he. Then he started crying and apologized profusely over and over. So clearly, he's not ready. (Yet? Or is this some kind of temperamental artist thing?)

Both my kids have been a real pain about Webkinz lately. All they want to do is play Webkinz on the computer. Finally, inspired by the "how do you motivate young kids to practice?" thread here, I decided to use that to advantage: they have to earn Webkinz time. For my daughter, 1 star= 5 minutes computer time. Practicing violin earns 2 stars. Practicing piano earns 1 star. The stars are multiplying, and I don't hear "mommy, can I play on the computer" as much anymore. And when I do hear it, I can just say "do you have enough stars? did you practice the violin or piano?"

Lucy and Rocky are now snuggled in their warm case. Good night.

From Richard Hellinger
Posted on February 8, 2007 at 3:26 AM

I love the stars Idea, I wish my parents had done it when I was younger, though I practiced a lot on my own.

I think it is great that your son wants to play. I loved the suzuki Method, until recently that is what I was trained by, until my new teacher took me off of it. Though, I think that learning to read music first is important.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on February 8, 2007 at 12:25 PM

Richard, It's great that you practiced on your own. That's my experience too: my parents aren't musicians and they did their part by paying for and driving me to lessons. They never supervised my practicing at all, not once. And when my mother sat through the occasional lesson with me, it was stressful for both of us. This was good for me in terms of attitude: for example, I think it's been helpful for me as an adult to realize that I play for myself and no one's going to be there to spoon-feed me. But it took me a lot longer to figure out how to practice effectively--if I even have, now. I wasted a lot of time when I was younger, just playing through stuff without defined goals. I'm hoping I can spare my own kids that, at least.

From Anne Horvath
Posted on February 8, 2007 at 6:58 PM

Karen, reading about your children brought back memories of my, uh, sibling rivalry with my brother. He was seven when he started piano lessons, and I was three at the time. My Mom, an excellent amateur pianist herself, hired a grad student to come to the house once a week to teach my brother.

I was so willfully obnoxious (and jealous) of his lessons that I was banned from the room while he played!

P.S. I started piano, wisely, at six. I switched to violin at ten. My brother quit piano at fourteen, but he can still pick out "My Old Kentucky Home".

From Karin Lin
Posted on February 8, 2007 at 8:40 PM

Nice motivating technique, Karen! I'll try it with my older daughter, who is addicted to a particular DVD.

From Natasha Marsalli
Posted on February 8, 2007 at 9:03 PM

Wow, I thought I was the only one who threw violins...I remember throwing my half-size a long time ago...my mom was totally ticked off cause the bridge fell out and the soundpost moved and we had to get it fixed...and now I want to go professional...funny what the years do to you.

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Lucy and Rocky

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