Violin lesson 25-Feb and beyond

Lara is learning "Song of the wind" at the moment, the second song after the Twinkle variations. The challenge of "Song of the wind" is the jumping Mr three, which Lara seemed to get quickly. Maybe being left-handed helped in that regard. The twinkles, though simple, were the toughest part of the violin journey. We experienced a lot of crying, and resistance during that time. I did not complain about it much, but it was hard work without a doubt. I did a lot of reflections (was I too strict, too relax, did I ask too much or not enough) and researches on internet, read books and wrote emails to teacher during that time in order to calm myself down. The Suzuki Institute holds 'twinkle graduation concert' in Opera House every year, because being able to play the twinkles is a great achievement. I see other parents going through the twinkles stage now and listening to their stories, I am very glad that Lara's home practice sessions are getting easier.

Music is a long road and we are only at the beginning. With violins, there is also that initial period of learning to hold a foreign object, tilt your head in an almost unnatural way, press down hard on your fingers(they do hurt) at the right place or you don't make a pleasant sound. We have our good and bad days. Lara's young teacher Elle said it took her a long time to complete the twinkles, but 18 years later, she's still playing. I think about this every time we encountered difficulties.

A friend was talking to me about starting her 2-year-old on violin lessons at 3. I don't think I will do that with Sam personally. At the Suzuki summer camp, I met a piano teacher whose 4-year-old girl started violin at 2 (& sat in at lessons at 18 months (Sam's age!) I didn't get a chance to hear her play but I watched her on stage at the final concert. She might play well but she didn't have the mental maturity to follow instructions. During the time she was on stage, she kept stopping in the middle of the song to do other things (look at other kids, scratch her arm etc). I can only imagine what daily practice would be like. Do I want to go through this with Sam every day? The answer is no.

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I was looking for photos to go with this post, and another 3 weeks passed. Lara is now up to 'oh come little children', the forth song after the twinkles. This song had some difficult parts (esp the two up bows). Just when I thought practices were better, we had an awful week. Luckily during this time, I chanced upon an article in "teaching suzuki" about learning 'oh come little children'. Then I realised my mistake - I couldn't expect Lara to remember the bow movements before she can play the song. I needed to just let her play the melody, once she knew the song well, the bow movements would follow. And she played so much better after that! I have a lot to learn too....