Friday. We took our 11-year old to hear Schumann's cello concerto and Shostakovich Symphony #5. So Schumann is fairly easy to listen to - romantic music, familiar (we've been listening to Yo-Yo Ma's performance on CD), very lyrical. I was worried about Shostakovich - the music is more challenging and I thought she would get bored. Nope. She really liked Shostakovich (she said it was like the music was telling a story - which is exactly right). She had great fun using our little binoculars to see the cellist (he wore bright red socks! he used the whole bow!). The orchestra also performed Missy Mazzoli's Orpheus Undone. I haven't heard her music before, definitely an interesting piece! And, as an extra-cool fact, she is originally from a nearby town.
Sunday. I was planning to take our 16-year old to hear Hillary Hahn play Bach in May, but... she cancelled because of an injury. So, I spontaneously took him to hear the Chamber Orchestra perform "Four Seasons" - it was a mishmash of Vivaldi, Max Richter, and Piazzolla. Beautiful music, beautifully performed. The arrangement if pieces was a little unorthodox (instead of playing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, followed by Richter's and Piazzolla's, they performed Spring from all the composers, followed by Summer, etc). It was fun, but I also want to hear each composers uninterrupted version of the Seasons.
Lights
Saturday. We went to a lighting store and picked out kitchen lights to hang above the new island. The store was insane - millions of light fixtures, making one's eyes water. It was like being inside a kaleidoscope. Luckily, we got some help there - and were able to narrow down our choices down to just a few options. I hope we like the new light once it's installed... I don't particularly want to go back and start over again.
Action!
Well, I should probably say "other stuff that got done".
- Laundry. Lots and lots of laundry.
- Planted onions.
- Made banana bread - which was a bit more of an ordeal than normal because we don't have a kitchen and locating bowls/flour/other ingredients is not trivial. I baked in in a bread machine.
- Fun stuff: we went out to eat at a local diner on Friday and my mom made dinner for us on Saturday!
- We turned our calendars today to April!
- C had a soccer game
- H did not have rock climbing practice, but I didn't realize that and we drove to the gym on Saturday morning to learn that there was no practice... they had competitions, so we watched for a few minutes, and then went food-shopping.
Dear Readers: Happy April 1! Please feel free to share jokes... I definitely could use something to laugh about.
My dad loves pranks and silly jokes, but I haven't heard from him yet... hopefully he doesn't do anything too dramatic this year (my kids compare him to Karlson, a character from one of our favorite books by Astrid Lindgren).
I find lighting stores (or picking anything for a home) is so overwhelming. I want...5 options, max! And instead there are dozens. I've put off some home improvements because I'm too chicken to go make choices!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Too many choices!
DeleteCurrently in the midst of agonizing decisions about tile and backsplash... (really, I should lighten up... not like it's life-and-death, right?)
We dragged our feet for 10 years before starting on the kitchen.
Max Richter!
ReplyDeleteLyra plays piano and is making great progress but she's been talking about giving it up. I don't want her to give it up. I don't expect her to be the next Keiko Matsui but I think it's good for her brain and it's a great skill to develop. I know your kids play multiple musical instruments, how do you foster commitment? She is 7.
Getting kids to practice is hard, especially in the beginning. I'd say the second year is the worst. The initial excitement of doing something new has worn off and there is lot of routine and tedious practice with little visible progress.
DeleteWith my older kids, practicing got better when they were about 12 (so after about 5 years of music lessons) - at that point, they could see their progress, they could play the pieces they loved, and they could have fun playing their instruments. They still don't always love practicing, but they like mastering more difficult pieces and they like playing for fun (especially my oldest).
A couple of suggestions: make daily practice part of a routine. It doesn't have to be long. 15-20 min every day is better than an hour once a week. Sometimes, it works best to break up the practice time (15 min in the morning and 15 min in the afternoon). Some teachers make "practice log" that kids fill out (this hasn't worked for my daughter for more than a couple of days, but it works for some kids).
Also, long breaks make it hard to get back into practicing routines. Same as with math and reading, kids will lose some of what they learned... and while they get get it back fairly quickly, it can be very frustrating for them when they feel they can no longer play as well as they did 3 months ago... Just something to keep and mind and prepare for. This happened to my daughter when she was 7 - she almost quit piano because all of a sudden things were hard and she had to re-learn stuff.
About quitting - if things are an absolute misery, give it a certain time period. Say, let's see how things are in 3 months and re-evaluate. Sometimes going to a different teacher can be amazing. Sometimes changing to a different instrument. It can also help if you or your husband play the piano (or any other instrument) and play for fun... Try playing a new piece and express how hard and frustrating it can be, and how at first things sound awful, but the next day - it's a little better, and the next day it's even better....
Oof, this got kind of long...
So helpful- thank you! we will sure try.
Delete