Finally he came back!!

After six long weeks, my son finally came back home! Well, to be precise, we brought him home. His hair was over grown, bushy and nappy, but he had a nice tan. All the other kids are outside waiting to be either picked up by their parents or seeing others off until the vans take them to the city. Some are already crying:( We could tell they had so much fun and formed strong friendship with one another.

In the car, he was very quiet and not taking to us at all. We asked him what was wrong and his reply was "I miss the camp!!!!!" As soon as he said that he started receiving text messages right and left.

I knew deep down he loves music, but in a small town like ours, he had no one to really share his passion. Most of the kids at his school are more into sports than music. It was really a lonely thing for him, but now he had founds new friends who can totally relate to each other and joke about the things only they'll "get it".

This is a new chapter in his life. We'll have a new teacher upon encouragement from his current teacher. His teacher's busy touring schedule and the distance between us just won't allow them to work in most efficient way. I knew it was coming, but I am grateful that his teacher really genuinely think of my son's future and this is the best thing for him. Weekly lessons will really get him to the next level, hopefully. With his newly found motivation and enthusiasm, I am optimistic.

Where is my son??

My son left for the 6-week summer camp up north in mid June. This was the first time he participated in a camp by himself. I've been always with him till last year. A couple of mini vans were to pick up the students at the assigned location in the city and drive them to the camp sight. We decided to get to the pick-up location bit early just in case we got lost, but about 10 students were already there chatting away. It seemed like everyone knew each other. One boy whom my son met at a competition was there and he greeted my son with a big smile, then went right back into the conversation with others. My son on the other hand, usually a social guy, but shy in the beginning, can't seem to get into the conversation. I tried to nudge him into the group, but he wouldn't go for it. Then a older boy approached me and introduced himself who turned out to be one of the teaching assistants. (He wasn't a boy, he was a grown man with a baby face:)) He assured me that he was going to take good care of my son. I was somewhat relieved knowing that even if he doesn't make friends, at least he has his counselor by him. Soon everyone started boarding. Of course my son was the last one to get in and all the way in the back by himself.....

My heart was aching worrying if he's gonna be ok without me......

I was completely wrong. That night, he called me to let me know he safely made it to the camp talking to his roommates in between like they've known each other for ages.

Then..... he stopped calling us. I tried to text him - no response. I left him a message - no response. Finally, guilt trip texting paid off. "I don't hear from you any more. I don't know if you are alive or dead. r u ok?" He responded "fine". That's it!?!?

After a few days of that very detailed:) text response, I finally got to talk to him. I could hear his roommates in the back ground laughing, talking loud, etc. My son said "Mom, I am having so much fun, I don't wanna go home." He said they've been watching a lot of Youtube videos by many different classical artists at night, talking about chamber music pieces they were working on. He sounded tired, but happy. No wonder I don't hear from him. He is having a life of his time sharing the love of music with his new friends who can relate to one another:)

It's gonna be so hard to track him down, but at least I know what he is doing when I don't hear from him.

Slump...................

It is not entirely my son's fault. He hasn't been able to see his teacher for nearly two months due to his (teacher's) busy schedule. Meanwhile, he has been working on a couple of new pieces and a few of the ongoing ones, but he needs someone to kick his butt time to time (who is not me...:))

There are limits to what I can do for him. First of all, I don't play the violin! My ears are pretty good for spotting intonation issues, but not perfect. I have two other children who need my assistance. Therefore I cannot keep an eye on him all the time. When I am at work I am not sure how many real hours he put in for practicing. All I can do is to believe what he says.

I am getting a little tired of having arguing matches with him. He is probably hitting a full blown teenage mode. He has excuses to do just the opposite for everything I tell him to do or not to do.

Well, he created the system of practicing 50 minutes and take 10 minute break in between practices, but the thing is yeah, say he does 50 minutes of practicing, but it is never a 10 minute break. It will be more like 50 minute break in between. I don't mind it if we had 48 hours in a day, but he has homework to do, he needs to eat. It is just simply impossible to take that long of breaks.

I just can't wait for him to have a lesson next month (finally!!!!). Hopefully his teacher will give him a loud wake-up call:)

Cello Lesson

My younger son has been taking cello lessons for about two years now. He tried violin when he was three or so, but realizing that he can never outdo his older brother, he just lost interest in it. I suggested to him to consider other instruments like cello. He liked the idea of having a bigger instrument than his brother:) We found a local teacher upon recommendation from one of the staff at a youth orchestra. She is very gentle, kind and patient. My little boy just zipped through the Suzuki books, but the more difficult the pieces gets, more puzzled he got. I mean, to me, he had no directions. He was basically leading the lesson. He would start playing whatever he wanted to start the lesson with. Sometimes it could be a scale, another time, it could be a piece he is working on at the moment. I just started feeling he was not getting the most out of the lesson. He didn't know most of the scales. In two years, he only knew two major scales by heart. I even asked her if there were any scale book she could recommend he could use. She said she would show me, but never happened. He never had an etude book. He can't read music. I started to supplement note reading at home. I like her as a person, but I didn't feel she was really passionate about teaching my son cello.
I went back and forth thinking, if I should stick with her or not. Deep in my heart, I knew it was time for me to look someone else. Last month, I finally did. I knew about this teacher who is very respected, but I also knew he wouldn't teach young beginners because when I first met him at a social gathering a few years ago, he told me so. But now my son's been playing for two years, he is not a complete beginner. So I contacted him and he agreed to see him. I took my son to his first lesson with a new teacher. Let's call him Mr. S since I don't know if he wants his name published on the Internet.
First, he had my son play what he was working on and some scales. Then he went on to the basics of left hand (my son's fingers collapsed when he pressed on the strings and he told him to keep it round) Aha! Then the bow grip. Even I knew his bow hold wasn't right. He told my son to watch the thumb and pay attention not to let it slip) This was night and day! Now I know what to look for to ensure the correct posture and arms, etc.
Then he explained to him that he will divide one hour lesson into four segments. First, scale, second, exercise (bowing, finger strengthening, etc.), third, etude and fourth, piece of music. This was exactly what he needed!!!! STRUCTURE! I am so glad that I made a choice.
I emailed the old teacher and politely told her that I was switching the teacher and thanked her for the past two years. I just wished I acted sooner...

Ysaye Ballade

My son started working on this piece last month. It is a monster to say the least. A lot of double stops... A lot of dynamics. It is so dramatic and creepy at times and beautiful at the same time. His teacher recommended Gidon Kremer's recording for my son to listen to. I also like David Oistrakh's version. His teacher told him that there weren't many places you can change your bowing or fingering from Urtext. Right now, he is working on the first two pages to bring them up to a decent shape. This will probably take a long time to learn till the end. I don't want him to rush just to get it done, but take it slow and cleanly learn section by section. He is working on controlling the bow pressure so that he can create more dynamic range. He tends to play soft most of the time, but he needs more of fierceness in this piece. Let's see what he accomplishes this month:)

Violin Position

My son's been struggling with keeping his violin up. Every time he tries to correct intonation or play fortessimo, his violin goes down.... His teacher repeatedly remind us that he needs to keep his violin up, but so far we are getting nowhere. I keep reminding him during his practice whenever I am present, but he seems to be very irritated. I understand why. I bud in every second. Then it escalate to an argument. I am so tired.... I told him he needs to come up with something so I don't have to keep telling him. Usually he sits down to practice. That doesn't help either, but his legs get tired standing up for a long time, so he alternate standing and sitting. I thought of something last night and suggested him this morning that he can sit right by our upholstered chair so the scroll of the violin will be just above the highest part of the back of the chair. That way every time his violin droops down it will touch the chair and instantly remind him and since it is not hard object, it doesn't scratch the violin. It seems to be working, thank goodness!!! Hopefully, if he continues with this for awhile, it might correct the problem. We shall see.

Building Repertoire

One down side about preparing for any competition is that you are stuck with same pieces of music for a long time. That's what happened to my son. Usually, competitions require some Bach Sonata & Partita pieces with contrasting movements and either one movement of a concerto or all three movements. You study Bach anyway, even if you are not preparing for a competition. So, that's that... My son's been practicing the same concerto for nearly one year. Although, he was assigned some Paganini pieces, but in order to make a piece decent, it takes time. Even now, I think he can work on the piece he's been working on for that long if he wanted to. But maybe it is time to take a break from that and building some repertoire. That's what he is going to do this year. No competition, period. Hoorayyyyy!!!! for me:) Now, I don't have to nag and remind him to practice for the same piece. That doesn't mean he can take it easy, of course.
I can see some maturity kicking in for him (just a little bit). Plus, it is like taking a kid to a candy store that he gets to learn brand new pieces. Some are going to be short pieces and of course Mozart Violin Concerto which I think he'll learn No. 3 first. He'll also will learn his first Bach Sonata, probably No.1 to start with. I am just as excited as he is!

He is going to practice those pieces very slowly focusing on getting the intonation right first.
He will continue to work on his bow arm which he tends to elbow when he plays forte:)
And finally and hopefully, he'll learn Paganini caprice no. 24. This, I don't let him practice more than 30 minutes at a time for fingers being forced to stretch like there's no tomorrow.