Keepviolinin

This song was one of the songs I had my students perform in the Christmas Concert I had, and since the music is not too difficult for my husband to pick up, we decided to try this as our second family trio:) Enjoy!:)

~ Keep Violinin’ 2011 ~

I’m hosting my 1st Annual Christmas Celebrations Concert with my students on Dec.18, 2011 in my home and preparing for a concert with the Livermore-Amador Symphony on Dec.3rd, so I will not be posting any updates until my Christmas holiday break:)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!!!! CHEERS TO A SAFE AND WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

~ Keep Violinin’

I just want to put this bit of information on my website for the Suzuki parents or future Suzuki parents to read:

The below excerpt is from the book ‘First Class Tips for Suzuki Parents’

Since Suzuki’s approach is modeled on the way children learn to speak their native language, it involves listening, observation and imitation of parent and teacher…

The parent’s role involves:

1. Committing themselves to their own on-going education about the Suzuki approach…

2. Creating a musical environment…

3. Learning the fundamentals of playing the instrument and taking care of it…

4. Attending lessons with the child and assisting with practice at home…

5. Creating a total environment of affection, support, encouragement, and understanding…

The most important ingredient for success is the parent’s willingness to devote regular time to work closely with the child and the teacher.

I know it’s sometimes frustrating especially for beginner students’ parents to be patient and work closely with the child and at the same time be affectionate, encouraging, and understanding. I would highly recommend Suzuki parents to go online to Suzuki Website and participate in one of the summer institutes that the Suzuki association offers every summer.  It’s not only a fun family event, but it allows you to meet other Suzuki families that are probably going through the same thing you are going through:) The website not only has information on the summer institutes, but it also has a forum where you can get some advice from other Suzuki parents or teachers:)

Enjoy & Keep Violinin’

It’s been 2 months of daily practice and Austin is now feeling much more relaxed when he is playing the violin.  It really is all about practicing the violin daily, even if it’s just picking up the violin and playing a twinkle variation.  It makes a huge difference when he practices daily, because the arms and hands are all starting to get the feel of how to become more relaxed when holding and playing the violin. It also takes a lot of patience from the parents and teachers to get through the first few months of learning the violin.  I know some students won’t even finish the Twinkles until 6 months later…every child is different, but it’s definitely the hardest in the very beginning of learning the violin for everyone.  Here is Austin playing Go Tell Aunt Rhody memorized:)

Click here to watch Austin play Go Tell Aunt Rhody

Hope everyone will have a safe and happy Halloween weekend! We will be playing our violins at Questa Elementary School @ 7pm tomorrow, so come back for more pictures from tomorrow’s event!!

Click here to watch the violin performance from the Mountain House string players:)

I attended my first rehearsal with the Livermore-Amador Symphony last night and it was so much fun being with so many musicians that simply just love to play their instruments:) This is something that I had a very hard time with while living in China and Taiwan.  The group had just finished a performance last Friday, so last night was the first rehearsal before the Dec.3rd concert so I joined at the right time:)

Here’s some info about the symphony and how you can help and support this wonderful community orchestra. See you at our next concert!!:)

Livermore-Amador Symphony Website

One of the ways I’m getting myself involved in our community is by attending a local community orchestra.  I’ve moved back to the states for a little over 4 months now and one of my goals for myself was to try and get involved in an orchestra by the end of next year.  The reason I kept going with violin lessons when I was young was because I was a part of the school orchestra, Denver Young Artist Orchestra, the All-State Orchestra, Weekend For Strings, and the National High School Orchestra as a senior in high school.  All of these activities kept me wanting to practice my violin everyday and made me want to improve so I can do more ‘cool’ tricks on the violin.

With that in mind, I contacted the Livermore-Amador Symphony and it turns out I can go to their rehearsal next Tuesday night and hopefully I can be a part of this group long term:) I love playing and I am happy to be a part of a music loving community:)

Our family decided to perform a piece together for everyone and our son Austin just LOVED watching himself play the violin when I played the video back to him:) My husband hasn’t touched violin in over 15 years, so I gave him the easiest part out of the 3 parts…hehe

Enjoy!!!

First performance for my students this year is going to be at Questa Elementary School in Mountain House, CA on Oct.28th, 7pm. Come join us for some booth games, bouncy house, haunted house, and Trunk or Treat!

On another note, I have recently found an awesome detailed video blog on http://www.violinlab.com that I highly recommend for students who have private lessons but want to follow something at home while they are practicing.

~Keep Violinin’