Lena, my 7yo, started taking violin lessons in January at her own behest. It’s been an interesting few months. I’ve learned some things about my daughter that surprise me.
Surprise number one: she gets foot-stampingly frustrated when she’s practicing. There are tears at least once a week. (I agree with her teacher, who said: “But she’s not supposed to cry while practicing until she’s in high school!”) It’s surprising because first of all, Lena’s generally phlegmatic. Not easily fazed. And second, all her life thus far she’s shown a pretty remarkable ability to persevere. Even as a toddler, she’d set herself a task, like jumping with both feet off the ground, or learning the alphabet, and she’d cheerfully work at it to the exclusion of all else until she achieved mastery. I rejoiced that my child was born with good study skills — something which despite many years of schooling I still don’t possess. But alas, this ability doesn’t seem to extend to violin-practicing. When we practice I am on shifting ground, unfamiliar territory, and I have to learn to navigate it better.
Read more on Rite of passage…
It’s May and that means it’s time for the annual high school musical. Our high school — and this is not only the high school where my husband teaches, but also the one we both graduated from — has a pretty amazing music program. Not to brag or anything, but this year the orchestra won a Grammy award for being the best in the entire country. I said, the best in the entire country! And let’s just say their musical theatre program is not too shabby either. They did a great job with Hair last year, and before that there was a truly amazing production of Little Shop of Horrors. This year: Tommy.
Read more on Bookworm goes to a show…
Last summer Lena started asking for violin lessons. My first reaction was no way! She was about to start first grade and no way was I going to add something as intense as violin lessons into the mix. I do not understand why so many music teachers expect new students to start in September. As if kids didn’t already have enough new things to adjust to! But Lena continued to beg for violin lessons. Joey takes piano, so she understands about weekly lessons and daily practice, and finally we agreed that she could start taking in January.
Read more on Life cycle…
For an introvert like me, having social events five days in a row doesn’t exactly sound enticing. But I had five really lovely days last week. Here they are:
Wednesday: I met blogger Melissa! She lives in another state, but her parents live nearby. She was visiting them for the holiday, so we met at Starbucks. Just the two of us, no kids. It was great. We chatted away like old friends until suddenly it was dark outside and her cell phone was ringing with the news that she needed to come home for dinner. She is so nice and sweet and funny, just like her blog. What a delight!
Read more on Busy days…
Often I feel guilty and bad about myself just because I am a white American of European descent. As if it weren’t bad enough that I obediently pay taxes that support government policies I think are evil, a few years ago I made the mistake of reading A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present, by Howard Zinn. I used to comfort myself with the fact that my early American ancestors (my mom’s family goes wa-a-a-a-ay back) could not have been slave owners because they only lived in the north. But flip through the Zinn book and you’ll find that those northerners were every bit as awful as those in the slave states. Only instead of oppressing the black slaves, they oppressed the native Americans… and each other. And unlike the evil southern white guys, the evil northern white guys managed to keep their atrocities out of the history books, too.
Read more on Eurocentrism at its finest…
Posted on September 19, 2005, 10:42 pm
by Julie
|
Also posted in Political
|
**Warning! If you’re feeling grumpy or cynical you’ll probably want to skip this mushy, sentimental post!**
My mom is a piano teacher. She taught the neighborhood kids for thirty years. I had just one piano lesson — from her — when I was a child. One lesson, and then I shook my head and said, “No thanks, Mom!” I don’t remember why I said that, but I’m so glad I did. I learned to play the piano anyway, after my own fashion. I can play lots of those sonatinas by Kuhlau and Clementi, and most of the pieces in Bach’s Anna Magdalena Notebook. And because I never studied formally, I don’t stress out about proper fingerings and keeping ‘em nicely curved, and so forth. All I do is enjoy it to my heart’s content.
Read more on 88 keys to happiness…
Posted on July 15, 2005, 4:00 pm
by Julie
|
Also posted in Family
|
Yeah, I’ve always been obsessed with libraries and librarians. I actually went to library school, but only got about halfway through. I took time off when Lena was born, and never went back. It was a tough commute, and the classes were so tedious. Not like law school (which I did finish), where I was never bored, not even in a class called “Secured Transactions.”
Read more on My inner librarian…
