Snapshots of a Day

Number One:

I spent the morning at Cara's house working on a craft project. She had the day off from school because of the Jewish new year, and I had the morning free, so we had made plans to get together. We decided to use the time to make tile coasters following this tutorial. It was a nice, relaxing morning... so good to do something home-y and domestic.

I selected my color scheme to go with our new couch and pillows in the living room:

A view of the little pads on the back:

Now we just need a coffee table to put them on!

{I think these coasters would make a nice gift idea. So, my dear family members, if you happen to receive a set of coasters for Christmas this year, just pretend to be surprised. An appropriate response might be: "Oh, how ever did you think of this... I've never seen anything like it... coasters, fancy that!"}

Number Two:

I had a half hour to practice in between Tierra's lesson and Elaine's lesson. Elaine and her father walked into the room and heard a few measures of Biber, and her dad, who has quite the dry sense of humor, said, "Okay, that sounds very good... I don't think you even need to have a lesson today, Sarah, but you can stay here for Elaine's lesson if you want to." Funny guy... but the best part was seeing nine-year-old Elaine, usually so quiet, smile and laugh about it.

Number Three:

For some reason, this conversation struck me as very sweet... perhaps because Elaine is usually so reserved.

Sarah: Do you think you can listen to Lightly Row ten times this week? It will make it so much easier to remember where the long bows are.

Elaine: Yes, I think I can do that...

Sarah: Our brains have a way of remembering music we listen to. I still remember all the songs I listened to when I was your age... it kind of amazes me.

Elaine: My mom says that about music, too. She remembers musicals really well, all the words.

Sarah: Oh, musicals are the best... I still remember all the words to the ones I used to listen to, too. Do you watch or listen to musicals with your mom?

Elaine: Yes, like... is Annie a musical?

Sarah: Definitely... that's a good one. Except I used the think the part on the bridge was scary. You're probably braver than I was, though.

Elaine: Well, I can never tell what's really going on in that part. Is it a bridge?

Sarah: Yes, I think it's a drawbridge... and I just remember thinking Annie would fall.

Elaine: Yes, it's kind of scary, but I'm usually okay.

*pause*

Elaine: Whoah, I just thought I saw a horse trot by in the hallway out of the corner of my eye.

Sarah: Wow, that would really be unexpected.

Elaine: I like horses. And I rode on an elephant once, when I was three. I kind of remember sitting on it, but I can't remember how I felt about it.

{Aren't kids fun to talk with? I love having little windows into the things they think about.}

Number Four:

This is what the practice chart of a very frustrated seven-year-old violin student looks like.

Poor Teaghan... I took one look at her crumpled chart and asked her, "Were you angry at your violin? Or having a bad practice day? What happened?" She replied, "I was angry at Allegretto!"

Number Five:

I had a rather disturbing encounter with a squirrel in our house yesterday, scampering about the T.V. room faster than my eyes could track him. This encounter ended with me attempting to barricade the squirrel into the T.V. room, despite the fact that said room does not have a door, and leaving a Havahart trap with peanut butter in the middle of the room to entice him. My attempts failed, resulting in a very small squirrel roaming freely about the house and evading all our diligent attempts at detection.

This evening Nathan had his own encounter with the squirrel, who had apparently taken refuge in the attic but finally reemerged. After a few sprints up and down the stairs after the little guy, we both managed to get him into a bedroom upstairs and shut the door.

At this point, Nathan may have said, "As long as we have him isolated in one room, I suppose we could just leave him in there for a few days..."

And I may have answered, "Sure, as long as we feed him!"

And he may have looked at me like, "My dear woman, you are missing the point..."

So instead of leaving the squirrel alone in the room, we entered the bedroom, where I guarded the space beneath the door and Nathan chased the squirrel in circles around the room (right across my feet at least a dozen times... eeep!) and finally, chased him right into the Havahart trap and closed it quite swiftly, with the squirrel inside.

Look how cute he is!

We thought about keeping him for a pet, but decided to set him free outside.

So that was an adventure.

{Please don't think of us as the most disgusting people you've ever known, just because we had a fugitive squirrel in our house.}

And that was my Thursday. How was yours?

Violin Lesson

Today I had a violin lesson with Mr. C, the violinist who was in the news recently as the featured performer at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony.



(You can read about Mr. C's musical involvement in the event here.)

It was the kind of lesson that made me feel like a bad violinist, which I usually consider to be a hallmark characteristic of a good lesson - it leaves one feeling acutely all the ways in which one wants to improve.

Violin Teachers

Nathan Cole, a violinist with the Chicago Symphony (which will always hold a special place in my heart as my favorite American symphony orchestra), has a fun website for violin-lovers. My favorite part is the page of stories from his violin lessons with Felix Galimir at the Curtis Institute of Music. If you've ever had a lesson with a teacher whose mere presence could make you feel like a nauseous bundle of nerves, Nate's stories will no doubt make you laugh and cringe at the same time!

I remember well the feeling of dread that would creep over me every morning of a lesson day with my college violin teacher. What a shocking transition it was for me, from an easy-going, un-demanding teacher who expected work on a given piece to take at least a semester to an intense, imposing teacher who rankled when subjected to the same piece two weeks in a row.

There were lessons where, after a week of four to five hours of practice daily, I played as well as I thought I could, only to be met with words like, "Sweetie, you sound like *&$%. You have approached this all wrong. You must start over, practicing like this... Now, put that away and play something else for me. Your playing was so unclean that I feel like I need a shower!" Other lessons I felt poorly prepared and thought I played badly, only to be greeted with an inexplicably good mood from my teacher, a hug or handshake and a smile - signs I learned to recognize as tolerance, and perhaps sympathy for my failure to progress. On these occasions, he knew that I knew I had played badly, and rarely wasted much breath on my pathetic attemps.

"Good," he would sometimes say after I finished a phrase, or a movement, or a piece. "Now, again, but in tune this time." Other times he was less amiable, once bursting out, "Sweetie, do you need me to write you a textbook for you to figure out how to widen your vibrato?" Sometimes he would declare, "I don't care what you like! I don't care how you feel! When I ask you a question about a phrase, or a fingering, or a bowing, I want you to tell me facts, girl, FACTS! I'm not here to let you express your feelings!" Eventually he would sigh, "I can't teach students like you!" and I would pack up my violin hurriedly and rush out of the room holding back tears.

Other weeks my lessons made me laugh, like the time when he asked me for a pencil, and then handed back the mechanical pencil I gave him, saying, "Sweetie, I can't work these things - give me a regular pencil!" Or the time when, in a January snowstorm, he decided he wanted to open the studio window. He tried flipping the latches up, but the window wouldn't open. He flipped them back down and tried again - still it wouldn't budge. Next he tried them at the halfway point, and finally, one up, one down. At each step in his process I explained to him that the windows were probably frozen shut, but he would have none of it. Eventually he called the college campus safety department, and ordered them to send over the officer on duty to help him open the window. The bewildered officer arrived and broke the ice off the window from outside, so Mr. B. was at last able to open the window and let in the frigid evening air. Oddest of all was his reaction to the help he received from the school officer; he turned to me with a wide grin and said, "Sweetie, I'm just so encouraged about this school. Now, Bruch, first movement!"

Lessons were always an adventure with him. By my second year, I cried less often than I had during my first year, and by my third year, I felt he might have genuinely liked me - at least sometimes. No matter what happened, somehow I would muster the courage to return each week for another lesson, and at the end of three years, I was a better violinist.

I'm grateful for all of it, from the stinging truths that made me practice more to the wealth of information that helped me to practice more intelligently to the quirks that made me laugh. Ah, what would this world be without violin teachers?

Weekend in Review

On Friday I had a wonderful violin lesson, went into Boston to NEC and observed two other lessons, and had dinner with Katharine, Corey, and Nathan at the top of the Prudential Center.

Yesterday, I taught two piano lessons, watched Just Like Heaven with Cara and Nathan, and practiced for five hours. I also learned some new words from the following exchange, which took place in a parking lot:

Nathan: That car is parked crooked.
Cara: It's parked like a lovesick kangaroo.
Nathan and Sarah: What?
Cara: It's a British expression. It means it's parked squiffy.
Nathan and Sarah: Squiffy? Huh?
Cara: You know, wonky.

Today, I took Nathan to hear the Westminster Abbey Choir at Trinity Church in Boston. It was part of my birthday present to him - he turns 21 tomorrow! It was quite wonderful.

Tonight and tomorrow, I have a ton of homework to do.

Better get to it.

Tomorrow is the big day.


Don't worry about your recital. Mom and I are just totally dazzled that you can even hold the thing right, much less play it so well. You've been given a lot of talent, so just hang in there, your recital is going to be great and Mom and I will be too proud for words. I just hope I don't embarrass you by blubbering like some wacko Dad out of 'The Music Man.'

Love you lots and lots,
Dad


I had a lesson tonight, and my teacher sat with his eyes shut and beamed from ear to ear while I played the Scottish Fantasy pretty much straight through. I feel somewhat unprepared, and there are parts that are still rough, but he said he's proud and it's the best work I've ever done so far, and he thinks I'm very well prepared to do a good job tomorrow. I sure hope he's right.

Schumann

Surprisingly, I've had two good violin lessons in a row. (Now we'll see how the next one goes...) Chamber music has been good lately, too. I'm learning so much.

Tonight I performed the first movement of the Schumann A Minor sonata in a recital here, with Nathan as my pianist. Um, it went well! I think this is one of the first recitals I've played where I haven't felt like crying afterwards. I was nervous, of course, but as I played, I kept passing one tricky spot, and then another, and then another... all the places I could have messed up... and everything was going pretty well! I'm happy and relieved. I'm learning a lot by doing this Schumann... it's the perfect piece to help me fix my bow arm problems. Written all over my music are things like this:

"Your bow arm must have a fantastic relationship with gravity!"
"Your strings are the surface of an ocean, not a six foot pool. Your bow is a whale - don't skim the surface - dive to the ocean floor. Play with 300 ft. crescendos!"
"This piece is about how the heavens and the earth moved when he met Clara - that's what all his music was about."
"know which part of your bow arm is doing the moving at each moment."
"Experiement: slower bow, near bridge, dig in, sustain."
"sustain, sustain, sustain!"
"crescendo!"
"sforzando!"
"turbulence, unrest - something is not right!"
"be like a monkey! watch knuckles."
"accents!"
"sting!"
"more! more!"

So yes... I'm working on acquiring a huge sound... and I'm happy, because a lot of people, not even knowing that I'm working so hard on my bow arm and my sound, told me after the recital that my sound was really growing. Yay!

On another note, my back still hurts... a lot. It kind of makes it hard to play.

Time to go watch a little bit of the game!

What?! Quad finals already? The semester is halfway over, and I still feel like things haven't quite gotten started yet. Practicing is definitely not going as well as it should be. That will have to improve for the rest of the semester or juries will be less than fabulous and my teachers will be less than pleased.

We had our choir homecoming concert last Saturday... I loved it. Singing the Schutz Magnificat was a high point. The Gabrieli Hodie is pretty terrific, too. We also did the Tallis If Ye Love Me, some spirituals, Here I Am, Lord (arr. Ovid Young), Children of the Heavenly Father (arr. Robert Scholz), and an arrangement of Ride On, King Jesus. Even the Richard Rodgers Medley at the close of the program was fun, despite the cheesiness. Anyway, I enjoy choir. The morning of the concert had been not-too-wonderful... an unpleasant thing happened which made me sad, but my fabulous parents and a fabulous friend made things better... and then the concert was terrific and the evening afterward was pretty nice, too.

Classes are okay. I have a science exam coming up, for which I must study. I just finished a paper yesterday morning discussing Schubert's Erlkonig... I hope it turned out ok.

I had a fantastic violin lesson on Wednesday. I think I am beginning to find out how to expand my sound into what Mr. B. has been trying to help me create all along.

I finally bought a CD player today (well, I mean yesterday, I suppose). A lot of money, yes, but I shouldn't go through another school year unable to listen to music just because my CD player is at home in California. (Oh, and I got it for a fraction of the price the website says; BJ's is so cool.) A smart boy helped me pick out a good one to buy, and then helped me get it all set up. I immediately listened to my favorite moments from my favorite CD's... and I am so happy. Music! I love it.

Bedtime. It's raining, which is the nicest sound to which to fall asleep, I think. I'm happy... I feel content.

(P.S.: not so confused anymore.)

Okay, my friends, I've decided to use this url for a while - or maybe even permanently. I kind of like it. And I shall now find a way to alert you all to my presence here at http://www.fidesquarensintellectum.blogspot.com so that you can visit regularly, comment frequently, update your links, and enjoy reading all about, well, um, me! Oh, and all the archives are here too, which is nice.

I've missed my little bloggie. And I've missed you, O Friends in the Blogosphere.

So now that I'm back (or rather; I was here all along, but sort of hiding out for a bit), here at last is A Much-Needed Update...

I'm back at school. All is well and good and okay, for the most part. I'm scared about Interpretive Analysis, which is proving to be a somewhat difficult course. I'm nervous about being able to work hard enough and accomplish enough in my violin lessons this semester. I'm taking piano lessons for credit this semester too, and while I'm excited about that and I think I'll like my teacher a lot, I'm a bit worried about finding the time to practice. I'm in orchestra, chamber music, and choir... choir! It's really fun; I love it already. Jaana joined choir as well, and it's really fabulous to sit next to her and just sing our little hearts out. We're doing Mendelssohn's Elijah, and even though for the real performance I'll be playing in the orchestra instead of singing in the choir, it's still really fun to get to sing the choruses in rehearsal. We're also doing some nice double-choir pieces, some cheesy but fabulous songs, and various other cool pieces. So yes, so far I am loving choir.

Other than all of that, I have a class called Newton to Einstein to fulfill my core science requirement. All I shall say about that is that it provides me with a nice time for an hour-long nap three days a week. But we have an exam coming up, so I guess I should start reading the book. Heh.

I've been kept quite busy lately by the theater department's production of the musical The Secret Garden - I'm playing in the pit orchestra, and it's turning out to be a somewhat sizeable time commitment on my part. Of course, it is okay because I will soon get a nice paycheck to make everything worthwhile. And to be honest, in the meantime, I am actually enjoying it a bit. Of course, the first two shows were more enjoyable than the four that followed, and when I consider that we still have seven shows left, I'm feeling a bit unenthusiastic about that at the moment, but all in all, it's okay. I have a soft spot in my heart for cheesy musicals, I guess... and this one has some great songs and wonderful moments.

I had my first violin lesson this Wednesday. Longest lesson ever... my lesson time ended up going from about 9:00-11:15 pm. But we talked, and even though it was really hard, it was a good thing, I think. I think my teacher and I understand each other a little bit better now. I hope that things go well this year. Oh, and I hope I can be diligent and work very hard this semester... there are so many goals I have set, so many things I would like to achieve.

In other news, my apartment is really fun. I enjoy all the girls in the apartment a lot, and I love having a kitchen.

I have so much to do. I must do something productive now. But my friends, I'm glad to be back. So I hope you all come visit me here frequently, and say hello... comment!