On behalf of Steven, Maggie and myself, we wish you all a wonderful holiday.
See you in the New Year!
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Monday, December 12, 2016
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
It's A Girl!
Margaret ("Maggie") Holly Barten
Born December 5th at 9:29 a.m.
7 lbs. 12 oz.
With being a week overdue, it was a surprise to have my water break early Monday morning at 2:30 and then a quick delivery to follow. We arrived home with her on December 6th around noon and are enjoying getting to know each other and figuring out our schedules. She gave us a few hours sleep last night and has been great feeding and visiting and napping. Steven and I are doing well and are so excited to have a daughter! Stay tuned for more pictures!
Thursday, December 01, 2016
December is HERE! But still no baby...
I'm hoping the process of writing this will trigger something to start. Like I've said before, I am so grateful I was able to get through all my teaching and shows, but now time is standing still. What do I do without all of you! Everything is planned, everything is ready, and baby is taking it's time.
I witnessed some amazing musicianship from some young minds. From helping hands to being able to on the spot fill in for those who unfortunately were absent from the recital (ex. substitute leaders and filling in on melody parts). The ability to not only go with the flow and accept new responsibilities but to do so with respect and understanding was amazing to witness. I also received so much extra help without having to ask which made everything run so smoothly and efficiently.
Experimenting in lesson to figure out more Holiday tunes. Not everyone in the studio celebrates Christmas so it was great to see the excitement in trying to learn other tunes that mean something to each family. This month is such a wonderful opportunity to test what our ears can do and share our love of music with family and friends. We can play anything on our violins if only we try!
Assigning notes to learn over the break brought about a surprise in what we already know. Trying to play some of our new pieces and realizing that without any preparation other than LISTENING, we know many of the notes already. The power of listening is intense yet simple and can bring such joyful results to a young musician.
I like to take some time to watch the recorded recitals. I find I only see a portion of what is going on in the moment and the recording gives me another perspective. One thing I really noticed was the smiles, eye contact and communication that happened between the groups that played together. The respect between those of different ages and levels and those of the same age and level was powerful. One reason why the recital was a bit shorter than I had planned was how prepared and organized everyone was. Everyone knew what their job was, where to stand, how to start, how to end the piece and how to work together. And there was so much caring to do it right! This caring is what makes small group performances so successful.
I felt so proud to find out that when asking students what their job is over the break, the most common answer was REVIEW! What incredible Suzuki students! Maintaining skills and pieces that we already know is essential. Yes, you may have fun trying some notes to your new pieces, but in order to just pick up where we left off in January without having to back track, review is key.
I hope you all enjoyed the past three months of music as much as I did. I am anticipating what more we can accomplish in 2017! Enjoy this month and focus on the people rather than everything else that comes with this busy time of year. Value time spent rather than money spent. I suppose I should take my own advice and enjoy these last few afternoons of time spent with things just as they are. Change will be here soon enough. Take care!
So while I'm waiting. I thought I'd just mention some incredible things that happened during the past few weeks.
I witnessed some amazing musicianship from some young minds. From helping hands to being able to on the spot fill in for those who unfortunately were absent from the recital (ex. substitute leaders and filling in on melody parts). The ability to not only go with the flow and accept new responsibilities but to do so with respect and understanding was amazing to witness. I also received so much extra help without having to ask which made everything run so smoothly and efficiently.
Experimenting in lesson to figure out more Holiday tunes. Not everyone in the studio celebrates Christmas so it was great to see the excitement in trying to learn other tunes that mean something to each family. This month is such a wonderful opportunity to test what our ears can do and share our love of music with family and friends. We can play anything on our violins if only we try!
Assigning notes to learn over the break brought about a surprise in what we already know. Trying to play some of our new pieces and realizing that without any preparation other than LISTENING, we know many of the notes already. The power of listening is intense yet simple and can bring such joyful results to a young musician.
I like to take some time to watch the recorded recitals. I find I only see a portion of what is going on in the moment and the recording gives me another perspective. One thing I really noticed was the smiles, eye contact and communication that happened between the groups that played together. The respect between those of different ages and levels and those of the same age and level was powerful. One reason why the recital was a bit shorter than I had planned was how prepared and organized everyone was. Everyone knew what their job was, where to stand, how to start, how to end the piece and how to work together. And there was so much caring to do it right! This caring is what makes small group performances so successful.
I felt so proud to find out that when asking students what their job is over the break, the most common answer was REVIEW! What incredible Suzuki students! Maintaining skills and pieces that we already know is essential. Yes, you may have fun trying some notes to your new pieces, but in order to just pick up where we left off in January without having to back track, review is key.
I hope you all enjoyed the past three months of music as much as I did. I am anticipating what more we can accomplish in 2017! Enjoy this month and focus on the people rather than everything else that comes with this busy time of year. Value time spent rather than money spent. I suppose I should take my own advice and enjoy these last few afternoons of time spent with things just as they are. Change will be here soon enough. Take care!
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