Guest Post: BEADS!

I'm thrilled to pieces to share this with you today!  My dear friend Becca from my ASU days was generous to write up a post on The Coolest Thing I Have Ever Seen A Violin Teacher Do For Motivation.  Really, I LOVE how tangible and cool it is!   Becca is a violinist extrordinare who has been sharing her awesome skills as a private and public teacher and has now expanded the student pool by 2 adorable boys. She told me about this technique a good 8 years ago at least, and it has stuck in my brain like peanut butter sticks to the roof of your mouth.  I can't wait to try it with WonderGirl!  Thanks Becca!!!

When I first started violin, I was blessed with the best teacher EVER. Her name was Robin. If I had a good lesson, she would let me go outside and jump on the big trampoline while she would chat with my mom.  When they called me back inside I knew it was time for the best part… BEADS!!!  If I had mastered a song that week, or achieved a particular goal we had set, I got to pick—get this—one pony bead to put on the shoelace I kept in my violin case. Are you thoroughly impressed?  I don’t know what it was about getting to string a shiny plastic bead onto that rainbow-striped shoelace (yes, I picked it out myself), but it was BIG.

When I started teaching violin lessons I thought I’d try this out on my students.  Each week we decide together what they need to do to earn a bead the next week.  The goal could be mastering a new song, memorizing a page of music, demonstrating correct posture for the entire lesson, or even remembering to bring all of your music (you'd be surprised :).  The adaptability is the beauty of it.  I also offer an extra bead if they have an overall great lesson or impress me in some other way.  Extra beads have been earned for a story written about the song they’re playing, a drawing of their violin, making up a song and playing it, making up words to a song they’ve played and singing it...  It’s fun to see what they come up with.

Students turn their strand of beads into keychains, bracelets, etc.  A new favorite is tying a big loop on one end of the cord so you can hang it on the scroll and show off your beads while you play. Some kids can even look at their strand and tell what they did to earn each one.  Somehow, they love this simple reward.  Probably for the same reason I did as a child.  Each bead serves as a physical representation of what they have accomplished in an area of study where successes are often intangible. 

Have fun trying it out!

Living Room Dance Party #9

One little tidbit of trivia is that WonderGirl is a Brasilian.  It's a source of pride for her, although we've been uber-lazy teaching her Portuguese (I have a legitimate excuse - I'm terrible at it!).  I've been helping my best friend who has just given birth to her first child, so of course it's bringing me back to my own days as a new mother.

It was lonely, living far from home and unable to communicate with anyone around me.  It helped create a bond between WG and I, as she was having a fish-out-of-water experience too.  I'd been excited to come to Brasil and take in all their amazing music, but unfortunately all that was readily available was a style of pop music that... cannot compare to the samba.  Just can't.  So, I turned on my Sergio Mendez and we danced together in the living room, day after day after day.   I recently had a Brasilian friend tell me Sergio Mendez isn't as big in Brasil as he is elsewhere.  Pfft.

Anywho, his Maghalenha gave us joy on the cloudiest of days.  I know I say this about every song I use for Living Room Dance Parties, but seriously - I dare you to listen to it without dancing.  I mean it - at the 45 second mark, I go crazy.  

You can grab it on Amazon here.  Last year Mendez put out an album of his music remixed.  It's kinda catchy, and wouldn't be a bad additon to your library.   Dance on, my friends!

Ode to Joy, by my Sunshine!

She did it!! She practiced it about 20 times yesterday (I did not... obviously:) - I was a little nervous because she's used to playing on a keyboard and a real piano needs much more pressure to play the keys, but she didn't miss a beat. Woohoo!!

E is so easy!

5 down, 19 to go!

The power of service

Today is the day we're heading over to the nursing home to plays some musics!  It brings to mind this happy helping song we sing with the kiddos at church, and WonderGirl was more than willing to demonstrate it for you (as you can see, she is experimenting with conducting, which is, as you can also see, hilarious).  We sing it while we tidy around the house.  The lyrics are super simple and catchy (plus the chords are an easy peasy I-ii-V-I pattern - I included it in D):

[D]When we're helping we're [Em]happy and we [A]sing as we [D]go,

for we like to help [Em]insert name, i.e. Mother, Sister, Brother, etc. for we [A]all love them [D]so.

Tra la la la la [Em]la la Tra la [A]la la la [D]la,

Tra la la la la [Em]la la Tra la [A]la la la [D]la

This brings us to a personal story I've been mulling about lately about the power of sharing your talents.  Back in college, I was going through a rough patch -I was nearing my senior recital, I had horrible stage fright and would shake every time I had to play a solo (my bow would actually bounce off the string).  My confidence level was shot, and I went to my bishop - the head of my church congregation - to get a possible referral for a therapist I could talk this all out with.  How was I supposed to graduate if I was too nervous to play??

He listened to me patiently, and then pulled a folder out of his file cabinet.  "I do have some names here," he said, "but I want you to try an experiment first.  For the next week, I want you to try to lose yourself in service.  Find some way you can share your gifts with others.  Then, come back to me, and we'll talk.  If you still feel like you'd like a referral, I'd be more than happy to give it to you."

I figured I'd give it a try.  What else did I have to lose?  I lived literally right next to an assisted living facility, so I went in and asked them if I could play my violin for them.  Nothing grand like a formal performance that would turn on the fear factor -  I could play some nice background music in the dining hall while they ate.  They were so excited they begged me to let them put me on their permanent calendar as a once-a-week musical guest during dinner.  I was reluctant, but agreed.  I'm kind of a push-over.

I showed up on time, stood in the farthest corner I could find and played all the hymns, Suzuki repertoire and fiddle tunes I had memorized.  I'm not going to lie - I was a little scared for a few minutes, but I started to calm down after a bit, because every few minutes someone would start yelling at me in approval and make a request.  It was too funny and distracting to be nervous.  By the time I was done, I was having a ball.  The residents were so kind, and I'd played a whole hour in front of other people without shaking.  As I headed home, I was walking on air.  The sky had never been so blue, and I had a permanent grin on my face.  I was on a service high.

I went back a few more times that week for good measure, and when I saw my bishop at church on Sunday, I told him I didn't need to meet with him or anyone else.  And thanked him profusely.  The rest of the year, I played at the home at least once a week, and each week my confidence and technique grew stronger.  I wasn't playing them my concertos and sonatas, but the time I put in playing their familiar songs for that hour or so translated into being able to play better and better the rest of the week.  My confidence levels shot up, and I felt uplifted and happy.  By the time my recital came around, I was able to play the very best I could, completely free of fear.

I learned a very valuable lesson that year and I am SO thankful for my bishop and his inspired advice.  I've learned that losing myself in service is one of the best ways to beat the blues.  My skills aren't the practical ones - like cooking, cleaning, remembering to bay bills, etc. - but I've been very blessed to have been given the chance to play music, and I am even more blessed when I share it.

So even if it's not so easy to coordinate schedules and keep the Dude from running around the nursing home licking every surface he can find, it's worth it to show get to show them how awesome service can be.

Music Class

Music Class, illustrated by Amanda Haley

I stumbled on this book in the early reader section of our library a few weeks ago.  It's a rhyming story of a class of children coming together to a violin class - and tells each step, from opening to closing their cases.  WonderGirl loved it - as it was an easy read as well as fun.  The only downside is - look at that picture - every picture is of the violin held exactly opposite of how it should be!  The upside is WG pointed it out herself and we had a lovely discussion of how it is supposed to be held.  Win-win!  The book says it's a Level 3, 7-8 year old level, but a new reader shouldn't have a problem with it.  Find it here on Amazon or check it out at your local library.  Happy reading!

Chaos around the Treblemaker house

Mom - the original Treblemaker

The next month or so is going to be a tad crazy around these parts - a lot of being here and there and everywhere for the Treblemaker family.  Because none of our plans are set in stone, it's been hard to decide anything - case in point, last week was St. Patrick's Day, but the Irish music is coming about this week.

We live down the street from a nursing home, and the kids I teach music to at church have sung for them a few times.  It's always such a rewarding experience that last Christmas, a drummer friend went with my husband and I to spread some musical cheer.  Just a violin, guitar and djembe - plus a hyperactive 4 year old SCREAMING Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at the crowd and a 1 year old doing some kind of sumo wrestler dance in front of us.  It was complete chaos, but they were very sweet about it anyway.  They begged us to come back for St. Patrick's Day, and we are.  Better late than never!

WonderGirl and I are practicing a duet to play - a lovely arrangement of Ode to Joy from the Faber book.  She's super excited and I'm thrilled to have her get to share her talent.  Everyone wins!  I hope we can get some sweet video of our performance to share.

In my upcoming travels, I'm REALLY excited to be able to visit with my mom.  She's the original Treblemaker - 4 kids, and at least 10 instruments played between us.  She even got her masters in curriculum development and wrote an amazing thesis on teaching the harmonica (the history, the theory, the blues, ALL of it!) to 6th graders.  She's an absolute inspiration.  And if we're super lucky, I'll talk her into some guest posts!  If any of you are interested in sharing your treblemaking exploits, drop me a line - I'd LOVE to hear your stories and ideas!