Tuesday
Morning: I notice that M’s nails are raggedy, so we begin with me filing and sanding them. As I do that, I ask M to read through the music for Rigadoon. To my surprise, she has a lot of difficulty. When I’m done with her nails, I ask her to play the first part of Rigadoon together with me. It’s rusty, and her right hand is moving around too much—instead of plucking with her finger, she’s using her whole hand. I narrow down what she’s doing, so she’s playing just the first two notes. She’s pretty squirrelly, and we don’t have much time, so we don’t get any further. Overall, a middling morning.
Evening: It went better, I think, but I failed to take good notes.
Hi! I just discovered your blog and love it! I am a Suzuki Guitar Mom and love what you are writing here.
Our son will be playing Rigadoon at his recital next week. It is a piece that can become rusty very quickly. I found this with French Folk Song this week. I would practice the G scale in second position and just listen to the song.
We do alot of listening to drawing, lego building etc.
This is totally crazy but I pull out these fun finger puppets in our practice sometimes and they do the practice. Our son is 6 1/2 years old and loves them. We have Rabbit (for the rabbit path) Crabby (a cute little crab puppet for crabbing your fingers) Dog (nose against the fence which are the frets), and others. They are the ones who help our son practice.
Anyway….you make me feel less lonely out here. Suzuki parenting is not for the faint of heart!
Thanks, atomic momma! It sounds like you manage to keep your practice fun.
It’s a roller coaster over here, but it’s definitely worth it!