UPDATED: 9:37 p.m.


Photo added and comments at end.


June 11, 2010 4:18 p.m.

Teachers, if you want to win the hearts of your students, don't try to be Mr./Ms. "easy fun" teacher, and don't be an "easy mark".  Instead, love your students enough to push them to be work hard and reach their potential.

Chips had a composition to write this week for lesson 81 of fifth grade Calvert School.  He was to write about somebody he admired.  This is the result:



       Miss Svetlana is my violin teacher.  She is kind, amazing, strict, and is one of the best violin teachers I know.  Miss Svetlana is seventy-two years old.
       Miss Svetlana is very kind, but is really strict.  I have noticed that she does not say, "Good, good!" all the time, or else the student will think he is perfect and stop working hard.  My playing always has something wrong and Svetlana will find it!  She has a good sense of humor, too.
       Svetlana came from Russia at fifty-eight years old and learned to read, speak, and write in English!  She teaches about forty-two students.  My sister, C____, and I both get chocolates after the lesson.
       I admire Svetlana because she came from Russia and learned English, and can play violin so well.  I also admire her because she is so very dedicated to her students.  Svetlana is the best lady I know besides my mother.

As a mom, I must add my own thoughts to Chips' composition.  I recently wrote a letter to this lady to tell her my own thoughts and feelings about what she has done for us.  From the first day we entered her home, nearly four years ago, she set a tone for the duration of the lesson that was all about the business of learning the instrument, very little small talk, and an atmosphere that fostered seriousness during lesson time.  Until this time, our children had never set foot in an environment quite like hers.  Chips was six at the time, and we did have our concerns about him.  He didn't seem to take anything, or anybody, in life seriously.  Not a bit.  Now you might say "he was only six" and while that's true, we noted a marked irreverence and distractibility about Chips that didn't seem typical for his age.  He also had very "busy" hands, needing to keep them engaged in unrelated and exploratory pursuits at all times while awake.  He had already been through three years of violin lessons with another teacher, and it was a good thing that teacher was tolerant of very young kids' antics, because Chips had a million of them to display.

But from Day One of entering under Miss Svetlana's tutelage, all that changed.  There was something about her that commanded Chips' respect immediately.  She wasn't harsh, or mean, but she was quietly serious and focused and kept a subdued tone about her lessons.  For a long time, she even refrained from small talk with me, considering every minute of the lesson as precious and not to be wasted.  She was creating an atmosphere, and it worked.  As Chips grew and matured over the months and years that followed, we were amazed at his level of focus while working with her.  Nowadays, she can keep Chips engaged in highly-focused, intense lesson work that can last for up to, and over, a solid hour.  I marvel when I see him working with her.  She keeps him extremely busy every second.  He hangs in there, listening, doing as she asks, and never even speaking, for the entire time.  This is nothing short of a miracle, and it will definitely serve him well for all his life.  It is this, alone, that is worth millions to us, never mind the violin playing.  She has taught him to focus on a task for an extended period of time, to work hard, and to be truly excellent at something.  For that, I am forever in her debt.

Sweet Girl is learning, too, although she is somewhat more wiggly than most of Svetlana's violin students, especially other girls.  Miss Svetlana and I do have our laughs about her level of gross motor activity during lessons, as every little bitty break in the work results in Sweet Girl practically climbing over the furniture and camping out on the floor.  Oh well, she is still growing.

Both children, Chips and Sweet Girl, adore Miss Svetlana.  More and more each year.  Enough said.

May 26, 2010 10:15 p.m.

Have you ever been so proud of your kids that you are just beside yourself?  That you are walking on clouds?  This is the way we have felt since Sunday.

Sunday was the annual end-of-year graduation recital of our local music school.  It was stunning.  So many fine students.  The entire time was emotional for me for reasons I will have to explain in a later post (I am not at liberty to write about it yet).

We have been with this music school for exactly 7 years now.  Chips was scarcely out of diapers when we began.  I think back to those early days in 2003 and then watch the children now and I am just amazed.  Of course, there are no miracles here.  It is simply hard work, daily practice, day after day, month after month, year after year, no magic.  But we couldn't be happier with the results.  And if I can't say this on my own blog, where can I say it?  As the owner of the music school said after Chips' performance, "his parents must be mystified!"

Today, I took an opportunity on the phone today to offer heartfelt thanks to our dear violin teacher for the difference she has made in the lives of our children.  They both adore her, more than ever, after four years of intense nit-picky study under her tutelage.  And we have developed a good friendship between us as well, because we mutually respect and appreciate each other for what each of us stand for.

Sweet Girl played Gavotte from "Mignon" from Suzuki Book 2 and played well for a relatively long piece for her to memorize.  Chips played Accolay like we have never heard him play.   It was emotional and bright.  The Trio played Uluru for the last time, also their final performance together as a trio.  Chips' concerto was the final act of the evening, and he brought down the house.  Even our violin teacher, who is virtually impossible to please (LOL!) called his performance "unbelievable" and that's a strong word for her.

Here is the videos for those of you who are willing to tune into them.  You music moms out there know exactly what this feels like!:

May 2, 2010 11:05 p.m.

We are not allowed to take photos or record video in the competitions, so I have merely uploaded the most recent practice session at our teacher's home.  This is Chips playing Kuchler's Concertino Opus 15, mvt. 1.  at Miss S's house last Monday.  She is accompanying him off camera on piano.  It is the piece whereby he won the violin SOLO state competition.  Thanks for viewing!

p.s. to Linda in Scotland -- I am definitely thinking of you and your kids on Monday.  Can't wait to hear!

Sunday, May 2, 2010 2:09 p.m.

Just got the news after church today from Miss S.  Sweet Girl got Honorable Mention at our state competition, too, for her Violin Solo!  Yippeeeee!  She played her piece, short as it was, with such feeling and expression for such a young girl.  We are so proud of her, because honorable mentions are hard to come by.  I don't have any photos of her with her ribbon yet; she will get it next week.  It has been an encouraging year for us and we are truly thankful that her hard work has rewarded in this way.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 9:48 p.m.

Sorry, but that's just the way I feel about it.  And yet we go back.  And -- help me here -- we are learning perseverance, perhaps?  longsuffering?  deferred gratification?

Or are we simply learning to do our very best to glorify the Lord, perfecting our music far above and beyond what we would have done if we were not going?

But we are going, again, to Jacks*nville this weekend for our annual pilgrimage to the state competitions.  It is difficult to not get our hopes up every year.  Every year, we think he is doing so well.  And Sweet Girl will be trying her hand at the competition this year, for the first time.  She, too, is playing fine.

Quick run down of events.

Chips -- Friday --  Violin Solo, Medium I -- Kuchler's Concertino in the style of Antonio Vivaldi

then

Violin Concerto, Junior II -- Concerto #1 in A minor, by J.B. Accolay

then

Piano Trio Chamber ensemble, Medium  -- "Uluru", from Summits, by C. McMichael



Sweet Girl -- Saturday --  Violin Solo, Primary I -- Oh Come Little Children, from Suzuki Book 1.


So, thinking we are ready for the emotional sandpaper, I say let's go for it!  And may this be the year we return home feeling differently than all those other years.  We all could use the encouragement around here.

March 27, 2010 8:18 p.m.

The judge wrote: "listen for the melodic line. Make the melodies more fluid & expressive -- not just correct...I look forward to your future development. You play very well."

The italicized words above were actually underlined by the judge.

There were two contestants today. Chips, and an older girl. They both played the same piece. Chips played flawlessly (as far as I could tell), and with plenty of artistry and expression, the likes of which we haven't heard from him until now. The older girl played well, too, although some notes were out of tune, her trills weren't always clean, and she actually stopped for a few seconds in the middle of the piece, as if she was having a memory lapse.

All the adults there who heard them both play agreed that Chips played it best. Actually, Chips was technically perfect, to the extent that my untrained ear can hear. And my ear is better than it used to be (it has to be, I've been a violin mom for seven years, now!) Our teacher, Miss S, was thrilled with his playing, saying that he played extremely well and that he even surprised her today. That's a lot, coming from her.

However, First Place went to the girl, and Chips took Second (loser) Place. Remember there were only two competing today.

So here I am again, singin' the same tune. Completely stumped as to why First Place is always so elusive. I know it sounds like sour grapes to ya'll, but we continue to be baffled by this. Nobody could understand it today, and the judge's decision is always final. Violin competitions, like figure skating and gymnastics, can be so subjective.

But it was a positive day. Chips himself said that he figured this was another one of those "character building" competitions. And since he played as perfectly as we ever could have hoped or imagined, we were happy to give him the $20 cash prize we had reserved for him for "winning" today, even if it was only in our imaginations. I so wish I could have videotaped him today to share with everyone; it was so amazing. He made it all sound so easy. But contest rules forbade videotaping. Had we known how it would turn out, we would have recorded it!!

Yes, times like these are discouraging. But we are just amazed at what our son can do. No matter, we are so proud of our son today!

And if you haven't seen him play this concerto before, it is six pages long, it takes nine minutes to play through, and of course he had to play it from memory. I posted a link to a video from early February, but he played it so much better today.

February 24, 2010 10:12 p.m.

So our regular violin teacher, Miss S, has about 30 or more students who participated in the Federation competition this past Saturday.

One of them is her nine year old grandson.

So almost all of her students achieved "Superior" ratings....... all of them, except....

her grandson.

In this audition, it is understood that students are not permitted to speak to the judge; they may only speak if the judge asks them any questions.

So Miss S' grandson walks into the judging room to perform, except first he stops and says to the judge: "I just want you to know that I really don't like classical music!"

Oops!

Miss S. couldn't keep a straight face as she told this story to us. We thought it was hilarious. You'd have to know her grandson, I guess.

February 22, 2010 9:04 p.m.

We've got four Federation Gold Cups on their way!

Sweet Girl earned her first Gold Cup this weekend, with a Superior Rating on her Solos!!

Chips earned three Gold Cups this weekend, with his Superior Ratings for his

Solos

Concerto

and Chamber Trio selections.

We are heading for State at the end of April.

February 6, 2010 7:08 a.m.

I am very pleased and proud to be able to bring you video from yesterday's recital. We were extremely happy and satisfied with Sweet Girl's performance. She played everything cleanly, and did every just as her teacher wanted. I can even see Miss S smiling at the end, which really means something. Please indulge me and check it out!




Below is a video of Chips playing the Accolay Concerto yesterday. He was not so content with his performance, primarily because he didn't get through it without a few "flubs" (as we affectionately call them). But we reminded him that he does still have two weeks before competitions, and he will be satisfied then.

I must add, about Accolay, and all other musical choices he has had for the past couple of years, the following comment. Competitions used to get in our way, taking up months of the year for preparation, drilling and drilling the same few pieces until that date in February, then doing other things until April and then drilling and drilling again for a date in early May. This is all fine, I suppose, except if the music you are drilling is relatively simple, compared to what you are really up to playing, then it does feel somewhat like a waste of time. For several years, his competition piece was very easy compared to all his other music, and the competitions did seem to get in our way.

That is, until a couple of years ago, when our dear teacher, upon realizing this, decided to bump Chips up several levels in the competitions until the competition music truly did become challenging stuff! And that is definitely where we are today. Yes, he is practicing, and drilling, but it is no longer getting in our way. He is really learning from it. And yes, when competing at the state level, he does find himself competing against much older kids (some of them even with mustaches, if you recall) but at least the competitions are pulling him up, not dragging him down.

Enough. Please check him out playing what, to date, has been his most challenging concerto yet.

My heart is full this week. In a good way.

It's a bit complicated, but I will try to keep it brief.

Last summer, I wrote a post in praise of my children's violin teacher. She is a mature, fairly recent immigrant from Russia, who is perhaps one of the finest violin teachers in our state.

Lately, as we have been looking at our expenses, the extreme cost of our violin lessons has been staring me in the face. Our teacher is contracted to teach us through our local Suzuki school, and the Suzuki school is the middle man, taking quite a chunk of money off the top for our lessons. To keep this post as short as possible, I will speak of apples instead of cash. As I explained it to our children (by analogy), each week, we pay 5 apples for violin lessons. Our teacher, Miss S., who does all the work, gets 3 apples, and the Suzuki school pockets 2 of the apples.

Our dear teacher, in addition, teaches independently of the school, charges her students just 4 apples, and gets to keep all 4 apples. But we cannot go to her directly, as I will explain below.

I told her this week about another music conservatory I researched nearby that offers violin lessons for just 2.66 apples. She asked who the teacher would be. I told her it would be Miss K., a teacher who she also respects as a decent and competent teacher. However, this teacher also teaches for the Suzuki school.

Now here's the catch. I cannot go to our teacher, Miss S., directly, nor go to Miss K. either, at the other music conservatory, because they both have an agreement with Suzuki school not to teach any of the Suzuki students privately apart from the Suzuki school. Not unless the student leaves the Suzuki school for an entire year and goes to some other teacher before coming back to them.

Therefore, as I and my children love Miss S., we are stuck paying 5 apples a week, with Miss S. only getting 3 of those apples. No, we can't go to the other conservatory at 2.66 apples, and no, we can't go directly to Miss S. for 4 apples (all of which she would get to keep).

It is a stinky situation, but that's the way it is. We've been putting up with it for several years.

Fast forward to yesterday. The phone rang, and it was Miss S. She had a proposal. We currently log in 75 minutes of lesson time with her a week to the Suzuki school. She wants us to reduce the registered lesson time to 45 minutes. Yet, she will continue to work 75 minutes with us anyway. In other words, we get the same instruction for 3 apples instead of 5. Of course, this means she loses 1.2 apples each week, but she is not concerned with that.

I am flabbergasted.

She also tells me that the time will come when she will have to pass Little Son on to another violin teacher, her ex-husband; that he is a "more professional teacher" than she is, and that he can teach by demonstration the more difficult concertos (like Mendelssohn's). Unfortunately, Miss S. cannot play violin for longer than five minutes due to arm pain; likely the result of a mastectomy of years ago.

Miss S. has taught and led many students right up to college. Many have received scholarships on account of their violin skills. Through the years, though, she has decided to pass a few of her students on to her ex-husband. They have gone on to win large scholarships and even become soloists. She does this for the good of the student, not for her own self-interest.

By now I have tears in my eyes.

By the end of the conversation, after much insistence on her part, we make a compromise. We settle on registering our kids for 60 weekly minutes of instruction, with her actually providing 75 minutes at no additional cost. In effect, this removes the price of the middle man for us. We will now pay 4 apples per week, instead of 5. But she will now only get 2.4 apples per week for her efforts, instead of 3. The amazing thing is that she was willing to work for even less.

No matter to her. She does it for the love of her students. She assures me the sacrifice is insignificant to her. And truth be known, she will probably teach our kids for longer than 75 minutes on many days, too. She will teach them right up until the next student shows up at her door. That's just her way.

So that is why my heart is full today. We are truly blessed to have Miss S. in our lives. Her integrity and selfless dedication are outstanding. I hope that we can find an opportunity to be a blessing to her someday, too.

This is a video of our baby girl during a recital last fall, when she was 4, playing French Folk Song. We are so proud of her! She likes performing on stage.

Please note: you need to turn off the blog accompaniment music at the bottom of this blog before viewing the videos, or else you will hear both streams of music superimposed on each other.



This is a video of our little son, the same day last fall, when he was 7, playing a concerto by Oskar Reiding. We were so proud of him that day, and we continue to be very proud of his accomplishments. It is truly a lot of work here at M___ O__ Country School (wink wink) but we are happy with the results.



Thank you for viewing. Praise God for his generous gifts to us parents!

Today I want to tell you about Miss S. She has been teaching our children violin for nearly two years, although we have been taking violin lessons now for five years. Miss S is 70 years old, and emigrated here from Russia when she was about 58. Besides holding a PhD. in Music, she has many credentials from her life prior to the US. She has about 45 private violin students at present. Over the years, her students have won numerous competitions, and some have even received full scholarships due to their violin abilities. She has very high standards, and can really lead a child to become accomplished in the violin. Her life is all about teaching.

We have never known or experienced a more dedicated teacher. We have experienced other violin teachers who have come and gone, and sadly, they were not always passionate about serving their students to the best of their ability. Miss S is different. She genuinely cares about her students, all of the time. We appreciate her so much. She is not the "warm fuzzy" type and she is not given to much small talk during the lesson. When you are with her, she is all business. She is completely focused on the topic at hand. She is gentle with our 5 year old, and is somewhat tougher on our 8 year old, from whom she expects a lot more. We have had a few "bad" days, when she has not had much patience with one of the children. What triggers the bad days is usually when one of the children's attitude is not what it should be. When he/she doesn't want to work at the lesson, or when he/she wants to be goofy or act like he/she isn't paying attention. Miss S puts 100% of her energy, physically and mentally, into every minute of her lesson. She demonstrates that she really values the lesson time. There is something about her attitude toward her students that makes you want to do your very best to please her, as a student, and as a student's MOM. We have developed a relationship of mutual respect and admiration. If you want a teacher who will raise the bar for your child, Miss S is definitely the right one. She is quite possibly one of the finest teachers of the violin in our state.

As parents, we have wanted to give our children the gift of being very good at something. We are totally not athletic, so we didn't see ourselves being that dedicated to any sport. But violin we could manage, although I don't have much of a music background. But we have committed ourselves to daily practice. Our kids don't even remember when they didn't practice violin every day. Practice is as routine as eating. The both started at age 3. My ds definitely puts in a half hour to 45 minutes of practice every day, and our dd puts in about 20 minutes a day of practice. It's a good thing our kids love violin. Our son, especially, enjoys it more and more each year. And every detail of the practice is orchestrated by me. I have to take detailed notes during the lesson, and then reinforce everything that Miss S says each lesson. So when we return to her each week, she can tell that they have really been practicing what she has asked. So, we benefit from Miss S's exacting nature and her high standards, but when it comes down to it, it is all about practicing the details daily.

Another thing that is significant is that Miss S is probably the first adult in our ds's life who has gained his total 100% respect. More than anybody. When he began with her, when he was 6, he seemed to have a problem with taking anyone, or anything, seriously. I was starting to really worry about him. When we began with Miss S, our son would take all these mini "vacations" in the middle of the lesson -- he would collapse on the floor in the middle of the lesson, and roll around, or he would walk over and look out the window or comment on his sister, or on the weather, or whatever. Now, he is totally focused on everything Miss S says and shows total attention and respect for her. I know that he has gotten older, but she has been able to derive respect and focus from him like no other person has. Our son's skills just TOOK OFF under Miss S's tutelage.

This past year, our son was the district concerto winner in his division, and his chamber trio took 1st place at state this year. He was in the first chamber trio (all boys!) that our local Suzuki school has ever had, and they won. We were so proud of all the kids this year.

We have already experienced violin teachers who were not very committed to their lesson times, not notifying the parents in advance that they wouldn't be at a lesson. But Miss S is the opposite. The only time she has had to cancel a lesson, she called me from a hospital bed to tell me! She really respects us and our time.

After our previous teacher announced she was moving away, she recommended Miss S. Lessons with Miss S were much different than they had been with the previous teacher, and it was an adjustment for us. I explained to my son that he would be learning to play violin BETTER than before, and he truly came to understand that in a short time. Fast forward two years, and Miss S has truly worked her way into our hearts.

The scariest time this year was a week back in January. She gave us our lesson one day while she was feeling very ill. She lives alone, and I didn't sleep for three nights worrying about her that she might have had a heart attack and died. I couldn't reach her by phone, and the violin school owner didn't know anything either. Finally on the third day, I was able to reach her daughter by phone and discovered that she had ended up in the hospital that evening (after our lesson) with an acute digestive condition. She was soon better, and was back to teaching us the following Monday. What a relief! It was then that I realized what a special lady she is to us. It was really special for me to see how much my kids cared about her. They drew her pictures and sent her get well letters (and "thank you for teaching us violin even when you didn't feel good..." notes) and I remember my dd praying for "Miss S to get all better". Recalling that time really touches me, even now. I know she really appreciated the kids notes and pictures, too. It was a good teachable moment for my kids' character training, because it gave me a chance to talk to them about a person's dedication even during illness, etc.

We appreciate every week we are able to see her for our lesson, and we hope and pray that we will have her as our teacher for ten plus years to come.

The Suzuki Method is all about love, gentleness, patience and persistence. Miss S has a good sense of humor, too. We have had many good laughs together during our lessons. The key is .... mutual respect. She has many students (mostly girls) that she has had for a long time - even 11 or 12 years, and you can see that those students have a really good relationship with her. I have seen them bring her flowers and gifts to honor her on her birthday, etc., and they relate to her very well. And she is SO proud of them, too, like they are her daughters. We cherish her. She is a treasure, and a person of great integrity.