I have been worrying lately about the Maestro’s progress. I was home for Thanksgiving this past week, and was there to see him practice. Actually, I was there to see him not practice. He was all set to play other manufactured instruments in a duet while Riley played Pablo, but he wouldn’t show any of the rhythms he needs to demonstrate for Hildegard, and he wouldn’t ever get Carolyn out to play.
I emailed Hildegard this morning about whether he needs his bow to make any more progress. Something needs to change. This is how I put it in my email:
“It is open for debate whether that change needs to come from us having new ideas of ways to help him practice without pushing him, or if he would want to practice new things if he had his bow. I feel like Riley and I are out of ideas, and am leaning toward giving the bow a try. He does know two of the rhythms, and I imagine that he feels like he knows riding on my motorcycle, even if he hasn't demonstrated it yet.”
Hildegard emailed me back, saying that he has demonstrated 3 of the 4 rhythms, and that she is sure he will get the last one by the time she goes home for Christmas. She had more to say about it than that, but the gist of it was that he is super close, and we shouldn’t worry.
He had his lesson today, and I don’t know exactly what happened. I know that it didn’t go well. I gathered that he reverted to his cat persona, and licked her. There was a Sharpie marker that made someone feel sick from the fumes, and no one was happy by the time it was over.
Riley feels like the Maestro is back to testing the limits of what is acceptable. A couple of months ago, he had to come home early from a lesson because he wouldn’t stop meowing, and cats don’t get cello lessons. He was much better after that. Last week’s lesson didn’t finish well, and this week was further down-hill. I guess it is time to get tough on something. I guess this makes it REALLY not the week to just give him his bow.
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