Just before winter break, we were informed that Jezebel Sweetpea, JillyBoo's beautiful violin, had a warped bridge. Let me tell you, trying to convince a German woman at a music store to swap out a warped bridge is futile. She was irate that the manufacturers had put a bridge of incorrect size on the violin in the first place. Inconceivable! Since our communication barrier and her state of agitation made it impossible to make headway, we ended up sending the old Jez back and received, relatively pain-free and totally $ free (thanks, Shar Music! You're awesome!), this new Jez:
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| The New Jez. Not-so-pretty, but she sounds very nice! |
She actually looks less blurry than this picture would indicate! My first comment (in my own head, of course), was, "God, she's ugly!" I mean, the last Jez, an identical make and model (Hoffmann Maestro, 1/8 size) was gasp-worthy in beauty. The New Jez is growing on me, and I even think she sounds great, even if she is homely.
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| The "practice" jar |
JillyBoo's violin teacher made her a great little suggestion jar for Christmas! You pull out a slip, which might say, "Play in three different rooms," or "walk around as you play." They're fun, and they keep the lesson fresh.
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| Wandering busker (clearly homeless-look at that outfit!) |
In other Suzuki news, I finished reading, To Learn with Love, which was inspirational beyond measure. I love how balanced and real the Starrs are, and how great and timely their suggestions are for teachers. One of my favorite, and most useful, tips was to say after each Twinkle (or whatev), "Good! Now, can you do better?" Our first try with this technique was that JillyBoo, playing violin in the bathroom, of course, played twinkles for over 30 minutes!
In terms of twinkle progress, we're finally, finally, finally playing the notes of the twinkles, but only the bread parts (the first and last notes). It's fun! JillyBoo naturally holds the violin well and fingers well. Unfortunately, her "open/close" technique with her bowing arm ain't so grand still.
A wonderful addition to our practice (we never call it practice, but I'll do it here!) time has been playing the rhythm and pitch lessons from the book, I Can Read Music. At first, I had no clue as to what to do with the book. Now that we are fingering, however, I love guiding Kiley through the lessons which instruct her on how to play different notes and different patterns. Busting out the music stand, which we had ordered months ago but had never opened, really inspired her to play her music theory lessons. So far, so okay with the music theory. She either bows really rapidly and then grinds to a halt, or is all over the place!
The best part of all of this is having a fun, structured way to be her at home teacher. I'm enjoying violin as much as she is, and really embrace this opportunity to learn an instrument as an adult!
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