I really thought I blogged about this, but I looked a few posts back and realized I didn't. We have wanted to get her started with piano lessons but what held me back was finding the right set up. Violet had been asking about learning piano lately and wanting to get started too. We have explained to her that practicing every day is part of the deal. I didn't want to drive her somewhere, and wait for 30 minutes with the 3 other kids somewhere. I thought about having someone come to the house to teach her (like I was used to since that's how it was when I grew up part of the time), but trying to create an atmosphere for her and the teacher to concentrate w/o distractions seemed like an impossibility.
I was chatting with some other WCS parents outside near the playground a few weeks ago after picking up Violet and asked if they knew anybody who taught piano lessons at WCS. Someone mentioned a teacher named Mrs. Jan Seeley, and suggested asking the school office if she still taught and if she did, if she had openings. I called the school office on the way home from school that day and the secretary said with confidence that yes, she still teaches, and yes, she had openings. I got Mrs. Seeley's email address and sent her a message with a few questions when I got home that day. She quickly and enthusiastically responded saying yes, she would love to start teaching Violet. She also mentioned that some teachers work it out so they can go take piano lessons DURING school hours. That seemed dream-like...no way...really!? How convenient and perfect!!! After a few email exchanges between Mrs. Seeley and Violet's teacher, Miss Schoonhoven, we worked it out so Violet can take lessons on Tuesdays from 10:30-11:00am. This is during an hour in her 1st grade class when the class splits into two reading groups - one reads with the teacher for 30 minutes and the other group reads independently. Miss Schoonhoven said that is a great time for her to miss class for 30 minutes since she is a good reader and if she wanted her to get any extra work done at home that would be sent home in her folder.
I am sure the Lord worked out that conversation with the other parents - it was among some parents that I normally don't cross paths with.
So far she's had 3 lessons, and the Bastien Basics material (talk about flashback, those are the books I started with so many years ago!) has covered finger numbers, left hand/right hand, black keys, low and high, quarter and half notes, stems on the notes, the music alphabet, bar lines, measures, double bar lines, repeat symbols, whole notes, and a handful of songs she can read/play already.
She has a brain that seems to pick up on the concepts quickly, counting the right length of counts per note and using the correct hand and correct finger numbers for each note. She has a tendency to memorize what she has to play once she learns it, and "just plays it" with out looking.
With Violet's ear for tunes is NO SURPRISE she can memorize a song a lot faster than she can read the notes for it. No problem, in fact as you know that's one method to teach instruments as it focuses on musicality not the academics so much at first...but the old traditional music system requires interpreting notes and temp and "reading music" before one can play it...not just hear it...but Violet is bright and will be able to handle that too. I'm glad to hear the arrangement all worked out so well PTL. (Don't forget you went to Mrs. Murphy's house for a couple years too...but I think in Nashua, Mrs. Griffee taught you and Rachel after school I think.)
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