Singing In the Dark

A couple of lesson reviews from The Teacher. The report that I got from the Maestro after this week's lesson was "I don't want to tell you about it." He was willing to talk about what silly things Riley had to do. She did the flower dance for the Teacher, and even sang! What did the Maestro do? He didn't want to tell me.

It turns out that the main thing before getting his real bow is to show Riley 100 bow holds. That is great, but also riddled with anxiousness for us. We have realized recently that having his real bow will make it harder to keep him within the guidelines of what is allowed, rather than only allowing him more freedom to explore. It raises the stakes considerably on this venture. I'm not sure I am explaining that well... Anyway, here is Hildegard's view of what happened this week.

9-26-06

The Maestro, Riley, and Hildr visited me at my office today so that Maestro could sing Twinkle for me. He was apparently quite excited to do this and couldn’t wait until his next lesson. Riley and I made an effort to make this extra visit work out. I was a little skeptical if he would actually be able to do it, because my office environment isn’t so friendly or familiar, and this was his first time meeting me there. Indeed, it wasn’t as easy as I think he and Riley had hoped it would be. At Riley’s suggestion, the four of us went into the bathroom and turned off the lights so that we could see the glow-in-the-dark stars they had brought. Riley ended up singing Twinkle twice through by herself. I could sense that she was a little disappointed. I wonder if Maestro could sense that as well. Nevertheless, she remained kind and patient in her words, which was wonderful. Finally, on the third(?) attempt, Maestro joined in for a few words at ends of phrases. He did not sing on pitch, which did not really concern me. There are many potential reasons for this, including: (a) nerves, (b) an ability to audiate but an inability – at this point – to translate audiation into vocalization. I need to read up on Gordon’s audiation stuff before I say more on this. Maestro met my office mates. He was terribly shy and it reminded me of how he was with me when I first met him. I had just thought that he had grown up a lot, but it appears more likely that he has just opened up to me over the past few weeks. Perhaps he is beginning to trust me.

9-27-06 –

As I watched the videotape of today’s lesson, I was immediately impressed with Maestro’s ability to stay focused. I moved at a slow and gentle pace, but he did not get distracted. He did get tired of activities if they went on for too long, but he then turned his attention toward some other musical topic or thing, including asking about my cello mute and the sheet music for the Bach Suites. It was very easy to turn these musical distractions into a different teaching moment. Throughout, I let him pick the pace and the topics for the lesson. I kept thinking as I watched the video that my pace was too slow; however, I’ve found that Maestro prefers a gentle approach rather than an overenthusiastic one. I think in this case I’ll use his bright-eyed excitement as a pacing guide, rather than paying heed to what would usually work for the typical 3 year old. He sat with the cello for 30 minutes today.

Note on the audiation vs. vocalization theory: today he sang the parts of the cello with me. His eyes brightened when I told him he sang well for me yesterday. Today he was able to sing correct pitches within a 3 or 4 note range. My trick was to find exactly where that range was. Perhaps Maestro’s grandparents would be willing to pay for piano tuning? If so, Riley could figure out Maestro’s range by playing notes on the piano and having him sing. Then we can build from that area and gradually increase both sides.

Progress is excellent. Maestro has now performed every step in lessons 1a-6a, and 7a is coming along very well. 8a done, 9a coming along, 10a done today (hooray!). We need to spend more time on 11a. 12a complete (he even taught Mom!). 13a almost complete. 14a loud/soft complete. He hasn’t officially been done high/low fast/slow but I have no doubt this will be easy for him. I’ll ask Riley to remind me to check on that. 15a coming along. He’s not quite ready to perform the flower dance for me, but seeing his mom’s courage today will perhaps motivate him to perform soon.

Bow exercises: 1b complete. 2b coming along. 3b coming along. He can work on 4b and 5b at home this week. 6b involves singing autumn leaf songs while bringing the bow down carefully to the string. To be taught with the practice bow, but passed off with the real bow down the road. There are some great Primary songs that talk about leaves. Perfect timing with the weather change.

I think once we get the patterning down (2b) we’ll be set. 7b is just around the corner…