Monday, August 23, 2010 8:36 a.m.




Chips has learned to play Bach's Violin Concerto in A Minor.  Here he is, playing in sync with Isaac Stern in a Youtube video.  Lot's of fun.

Oh, and by the way, my computer may be running a fever, so it looks like we are going to have to replace the fan.  I won't be available on email or anything else for a few days until this happens.  Just so you know...

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!

April 27, 2010 11:05 a.m.

Yesterday was the final practice of the boys' chamber piano trio of which Chips is the violinist.  They were practicing for state competition this coming weekend in Jacks*nville.  This is "Uluru", from the Summits compositions of C. McMichael.  This was the selection that gave Chips such grief this year, but I feel has resulted in good lessons learned for him.  Lessons in perseverance and patience, for example.

So the coming weeks will bring the final performance of this group.  Hopefully, though, they will always remains friends as they are today.  For me this is the "end of an era".  I have mixed feelings.  First, it will be lovely to get the latter half of our Monday afternoons back; but I will miss hanging with these boys and their wonderful moms, as well as benefitting from the teaching of this particular group's director.  But life moves along, children grow older, transitions occur, seasons change.  In most cases everything we have done, and finished well, has been replaced by something else even better.  That's called Providence.  Hopefully, what is being relinquished now will be filled anew with bigger and better things.

There is more that is changing, but I am not at liberty to talk about it just yet.  In a few weeks I will be able to.

If you can spare three minutes, please view this final "practice" performance of a rather modern musical selection.

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 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.

November 25, 2009 1:22 p.m.

We are at the fun stage now. Little Son has basically learned to play J. B. Accolay Violin Concerto in A Minor. It is a magnificent concerto, and a nice "bridge" piece to the world of romantic music for students.

As of now, the pressure is not on yet, as the competitions will not begin until February. Little Son has memorized the piece, and he is able to play the notes, although not at full tempo (certainly) and not with all the details perfected. We love Accolay right now. Two months from now, however, things will be a little more intense.

Someone was kind enough to point out to me that there is a nice clip on Youtube of Itzhak Perlman performing Accolay, and here it is, so my faithful readers can hear what a fantastic piece of music Little Son is learning: