Happy Year of the Dragon!!!
January 23, 2012
Enjoy this clip from Saturday night’s performance at Bethany Elementary School in Mountain House, CA
If you would like to see Part 1 of the Saturday night’s celebration, you can view it here:
Performance this Saturday night in Mountain House
January 16, 2012
This year is a very special year for all of us here in Mountain House. It’s the first year we will celebrate the Lunar New Year and welcome the Year of the Dragon in our very own little town of ~10,000 people:) A group of very dedicated mothers and fathers in Mountain House have formed a committee since October 2011 to prepare for this festive night, which will be held at Bethany Elementary School on Jan.21, 2012 @ 4:30pm. Tickets will be $12/adult and $7/child(2-12yrs old), and it includes a multi-cultural show with dances from different Asian countries, martial arts demonstrations, and singing along with some delicious Chinese and Indian dishes, some of which are made by our very own Mountain House residents. It will be a very special and memorable night in which our family will be participating in, and we feel so blessed to be a part of this wonderful community.
On a side note, another MH violin teacher and I have formed a group of talented string players called Mountain House Suzuki Strings and we will be performing on Saturday night as well!!
Come on and join us if you’re close by and want to see a great show along with some delicious food this Saturday!!! 🙂
Visit http://www.mhaaa.com for more information about the Mountain House Asian-American Association.
The Power of Listening
January 11, 2012
I had to share this picture with all of you!!! This is a picture my student’s younger sister drew while waiting for her brother to finish up his violin lesson. When he was done with his lesson, she wanted me to see her drawing and as you can see, what a wonderful gift she gave me after I finished teaching:) 
~ Keep Violinin’
Andantino Duet
January 9, 2012
So instead of recording Austin tonight, Austin decided to record me and my husband..haha..
A little background on my husband – Dave is a fast learner…he played violin and piano(like most Asian kids) when he was young for approx. 5 years but gave up when he was in high school. Since we moved back to CA, we were fortunate to buy another practice violin, so whenever he heard Austin practice, he would practice along on some pieces with Austin to keep our son motivated and entertained:) Dave’s never played Andantino, but since he’s heard this tune so much, he picked this piece up in less than 20 minutes!! SOOO…instead of recording Austin…I decided to play a duet with my husband and Austin recorded us, which became a very fun night for us:)
Enjoy!! ~ Keep Violinin’
Andantino Austin
January 8, 2012
Tonight I taught Austin a new song, Andantino, in Suzuki Book I. It’s in the key of D Major, and he’s started to use his 4th finger. We’ve been working hard to develop some 4th finger muscles these days, so here’s a prelude video to this piece. I’ll upload the final piece in a couple days, but I was surprised he could already memorize the first part of this piece:) I think it’s because we’ve been doing a lot of listening of the Book I CD:)
~ Keep Violinin’
First Rehearsal in 2012
January 3, 2012
I went in for our first rehearsal of the year tonight with the Livermore-Amador Symphony and I’m already faced with some challenging music!
Here’s the list of music we will be performing on Feb.11 in the Bankhead Theater in Livermore, CA:
– Saint-Saens’s Danse Macabre
– Smetana’s Moldau
– Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2
– Debussy’s Rhapsodie
– Maxwell Davies’ An Orkney Wedding With Surprise
For this concert, I’m sitting right behind the concertmistress and I think the pressure’s definitely on…AND…I’m making all my students attend this concert…so what will I be doing for the next month? PRACTICE, LISTEN TO THE MUSIC, PRACTICE, LISTEN TO THE MUSIC, AND PRACTICE SOME MORE:)
An update on Austin’s progress – He’s been practicing Perpetual Motion with 4th finger on A&E strings as well as D&A strings, and I will post a video of him playing these soon:) He struggled with the 4th finger for a few days, but his left elbow is now more closer to his tummy, which is making the 4th finger reach much easier now than before:) Video will come SOON…
Then it’s time to learn the D Major pieces in Suzuki!!YAY!!
~ Keep Violinin’
Thank you and come visit me often!:)
January 1, 2012
Once again, I’d like to wish everyone a healthy and happy 2012!! I am hoping to blog more in 2012. Please continue to visit my page and give me suggestions on how I can improve my contents to help you, the Suzuki parent or student to enjoy learning the violin:)
I’ve also decided to publish all my future videos on my new youtube account: KEEPVIOLININ
Let us welcome 2012 as well as the Year of the Dragon, which is coming on Jan.23, 2012.
My students will be performing at the 1st Annual Lunar New Year Celebration in Mountain House, CA organized by the Mountain House Asian-American Association (http://www.mhaaa.com)
COME AND JOIN US!!!!
Happy New Year!
December 31, 2011
Happy New Year to everyone from Mountain House, CA!!!:)
I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday!! I know I’ve been recharged and looking forward to another year of challenges and concerts:)
I recently uploaded some photos from the Christmas Celebration Concert onto my Flickr account, so you can view them by scrolling down this page.
I just received an email message from one of my students telling me how much she is looking forward to having violin lessons with me again after this long break!!!:) This is the reward of being a teacher..simple emails from students just telling me how much they are looking forward to our lessons together:)
May God bless all of us with good health and lots of happiness in 2012!!!
~ Keep Violinin’
Merry Christmas Video!
December 20, 2011
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!:)
Happy Holidays!! See you all in 2012!!
December 12, 2011
~ Keep Violinin’ 2011 ~
Keepviolinin 