Liesl's Everyone's Violin Recital

Liesl's 6th violin recital was on Sunday. A violinist's milestone: She was accompanied by a pianist for the first time. We have been practicing this at home with a CD of piano music, as well as me playing the piano alongside her. She was more hesitant than she usually is when she performs, but she did amazingly well with all the new variables thrown at her...and, oh yeah, she's THREE.

After playing "Twinkle Theme," she did Variation A, which is four 1/16th notes followed by two staccato 1/8th notes. The piano CD we play with usually plays four bars as an intro; for some reason, our pianist only did two and then gave Liesl the downbeat to come in. Liesl immediately looked a bit confused, stumbled a bit...then she got this incredibly cute, stubborn look on her face that said, "Hell with it, if nobody else knows what they're doing, I'll just show 'em." And off she went. It took every ounce of my will power not to bust out laughing at the determination on her tiny face. Such tenacity! (...and, oh yeah, she's THREE.)

I had so much fun playing in the chamber music group last month that I asked Sharon if I could do a duet with someone. I thought maybe her or another adult student in the studio, but instead...we picked out Tom.

Bach's Minuet No.1

It was really fun, and we came out of it sounding pretty well. I played a few notes out of tune in this clip (that darned 4th-finger E on the A string), but other than that, I am very happy with how we played. I've only been taking lessons for around 9 months now, and while Tom studied violin for many years as a child and teen, he has not picked up his instrument in 24 years...and he still has that vibrato. This was really cool. We are the first husband/wife team to play at a recital in our teacher's studio. I really enjoy practicing with Tom.

And did I say this was "everyone's" violin recital? Why, yes I did. So, some of you might ask...where's Ava? Well, about 30 seconds into that clip, both Tom and I start smiling while we're playing...it's because Ava wandered up on stage to be with us, and wove in and out of our legs as we performed. Yeah, that's pretty much how it works out at home, too. Listen carefully, and you'll hear her giggling right before we start grinning. The kid thinks violin study is as normal to our family as eating, breathing, and sleeping.