October 30, 2011 11:20 p.m.

Music is going very well here, and also very busily. There is a lot on our musical plates. 

Sweet Girl is involved in the Children’s Choristers group at our church.  Of course she had to miss an opportunity to sing with the group this evening because of a conflict with another activity … orchestra. 

Orchestra has been going well, and the children were in their first concert on October 9th. My issue with orchestra is that it essentially claims our Sundays (a big part of the reason for our being away from home and computer for extended periods of time on the weekends), but other than that, it is a wonderful activity. Sweet Girl is coming home from rehearsals and independently working out her orchestra music. She is even working through a book on how to play with vibrato, and making progress there. She is excited about the day when our violin teacher begins to want to work on vibrato with her and discovers that she can already do it!  But she won’t bring it up until the teacher does.

Chips has stepped up his practice time this year. He is now practicing over an hour a day, and approaching 1-1/2 hours. Despite what his teacher would want (minimum 2 hours) we really do not think this is necessary, and will not require that from him. I think he is making wonderful progress with about 75 minutes of practice a day, and intend to hold it there. Chips not only was selected for the first chair violin (concertmaster) position in his orchestra, but has also been a winner of their annual concerto competition. As such, he will have the opportunity to play his concerto with the senior level (i.e. high school) orchestra as accompaniment this year. We are elated over this! This, to us, is better than any state trophy would be.  The concerto is Haydn’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G, 1st mvt. It is wonderful, happy music, and full of joy. I guess its mood reflects his feeling about being in the orchestra.  It has turned out to be more than we hoped for this year. For one, it has provided some very positive outcomes for Chips, who formerly would work all year practicing for certain state competitions (can you say “Federation”?) only to not have it work out very well come early May. Now he is having happy results that make him feel much better about what he can do.

Oh, and by the way, his teacher is just tickled over that concerto opportunity.  It is a big deal for her, too.

In addition, Chips has been asked to play with the string quartet during a morning service at our church in late November, and also to play the prelude (solo) for the evening service that same day.  He is working on Paganini’s Cantabile for that solo.  It is a gorgeous piece of music.

Sweet Girl is working on playing the Seitz Concerto No. 2, 3rd mvt. (better recognized as the first selection in Suzuki Book 4).  Both children are preparing for a solo recital on November 5th. 

Here, you can see that Sweet Girl was very attentive during her orchestra’s performance in the first concert of the season.  She looked so grown up.

Chips, as concertmaster, plays an A-natural for the orchestra to get tuned up.

Here he is amidst an exciting performance of music by Mussorgsky (“The Great Gate of Kiev” from Pictures at an Exhibition).

And here’s the handshake from the conductor.  A proud moment for Chips and his family!

Finally, Sweet Girl can be found each evening in our dining room working on all her music and on developing a natural sounding vibrato tone.

The next post will be about …. church.