Two short lessons, plus songwriting

We practice in the morning for about a half an hour. We start with i-m-a tone exercises on the open E string. M is argumentative about being corrected, but her basic form is pretty good.

Next, we work on Pachelbel’s Canon. M’s playing and reading are both very good. She’s fidgety.

In the evening, we work on Pachelbel’s Canon for just 15 or 20 minutes. We start on a new section and spend all our time on the first measure.

The only problem we have — and we had it yesterday — is that M wants to forge ahead and play things quickly and sloppily. When I stop her from doing it, she reacts grumpily. She isn’t getting the message that by practicing badly, she’s making herself worse.

Of course, she’s just trying to exert some control. I need to keep finding ways to give her healthy control, because I can’t have her practicing mistakes or bad form.

After our evening lesson, M wrote  two “songs” on our new dry-erase staff paper that she left for me when I got home. (As I left, she was getting the paper, and told me, “I’m making a surprise for you!”)