Week 26

Hildegard's weekly lesson summary

Week 26

2-7-07

I wasn’t surprised at all that today was not the greatest lesson. In fact, I would have been more surprised if it had been great. First of all, last week was absolutely incredible, both in the lesson and many visits to The Maestro’s home. The Maestro had several great learning opportunities and musical time with me. Second of all, The Maestro has a cold today. Third, I had a concert last night, which The Maestro and Riley attended, meaning that we are all a bit tired today. We did manage to learn a few things so I feel good about that.

The Maestro seemed much more interested in my cello case than in getting out his own cello. He pointed to several items asking, “What is that?” After three or four times I asked him directly, “Would you like a lesson today, or would you not like a lesson?” He said yes, but didn’t move. Riley explained to him that maybe he could hear more about my case after the lesson.

The Maestro had a difficult time holding on to things today. Carolyn was dropped three times in the lesson. The first time looked almost like a deliberate toss on the floor. Riley and I were sure to mention the importance of holding Carolyn carefully and to check for cracks each time it gets bumped. The Maestro ran out of the room, first stopped by Riley, who whispered to him to get his wiggles out before returning. He came back, picked up the cello, and got ready.

I introduced the “mirror game” as a warm up today. We did this several weeks ago, but The Maestro’s attention span was much longer today, as was his ability to use fine motor skills. He imitated my use of my isolated index fingers as well as my isolated pinkies touching the bridge (although I pointed with only my pinkies, he actually challenged himself more by using his index fingers and pinkies, keeping the middle fingers tucked).

The Maestro asked to do “Tucka tucka stop stop” for the review piece. He took great care to place his fingers on the bow. I attribute our time with the practice bow and with 100 bow holds to this strength in his posture. The feet are well placed thanks to Riley’s motivation of free play time being contingent upon flat feet. We do need to work on keeping him tucked (Riley has recently added this requirement for a fourth minute). Riley and I should try coming around from the back and placing the cello in place (he leans forward to the right).

The Maestro played several Tuckas in a row, even using his first finger on various stickered notes. This is a new skill I’ve seen him use in the last week since my guitar playing – I wonder if Riley saw it earlier than that. I praised him for this and told him that once I saw him doing a second finger. I left it at that, hoping he would try it on his own in his free play. Anyway, for the record, we had a distinct part of the first Twinkle variation in there. (B to A).

Riley asked The Maestro to do the tennis ball sirens for his second review. He hesitated and scrubbed away on his cello. I asked him if he would like to play tennis balls alone, or with me. He ignored me and played on. He even ignored Riley’s more intriguing question: “Would you like to do a solo or a duet?” He continued to scrub away. I lifted his bow off the string, telling him it wasn’t time for a “The Maestro song” yet (which he didn’t like – he said “Yes!” with an angry tone). I ignored this, looked him in the eyes, and asked my question again. In a very soft voice he said he would like us to play together.

As we played I became aware of just how low his head was bowing. I asked Riley to pull my head in various directions with a make-believe puppet string. The Maestro liked watching this, but when I asked if he would like to play, he said no. He did agree to pull my head twice with an imaginary string. I’m not surprised that The Maestro didn’t want to cooperate with someone “manipulating” him. We will need to find a way to get him to keep a good alignment. The “one minute for tucking” idea is a great one, but he only tucks for a moment before playing.

When it was time for the “The Maestro Song” I suggested that we stop after two minutes and reassess whether The Maestro had maintained his feet stance and his tuck. If he had, then he should be able to continue. The Maestro didn’t appear to quite understand what I was getting at, and Riley tried to explain it to him. I think he realized that it wouldn’t be in his favor because he ran out of the room. (The trick will be to make him feel like – and, actually recognize – that this is in his favor). Riley said, “Oh, we don’t want to be done. Do you?” Riley and I stayed in the room and didn’t chase after him. After five seconds he ran back in and sat down. I suppose he decided it was better to do two minutes than none at all. The “The Maestro Song” was quite uneventful. He did a few pizzicatos and placed his finger on various fingerboard spots, with slow and meticulous playing (quite focused on fine motor skills – hooray for that). He stopped at two minutes and seemed finished. We didn’t talk about going on for two more minutes (was that a mistake? He just simply didn’t look interested).

I gave him a choice between the Zubin Cabbage song, the Pizzicato Cabbage song, and the Crab song. Unsurprisingly, he chose Zubin. For this song, he played with his bow on the D string (quite a tricky thing for him to maintain – his arm and elbow need to be a bit higher). I asked him to hold the bow on the green spot and not start until I said, “ready, get set…” This was challenging for a boy who wanted to play (I must admit I could picture a scene from my childhood, where my brother would place a piece of meat on a dog’s nose and require the dog to hold it there). I think with practice he’ll get that. Riley helped him bow on the D string, which was good so he would get the idea of the song. I fingered the notes for “Bile them Cabbage Down” while they bowed. It was slow but this will be good for future steps.

I asked The Maestro which song he wanted to do next. He put his endpin in while saying, “Next week.” Riley asked him if he would like to learn one more song to practice this week. He said nothing, but the cello dropped out of his left hand and slid to the floor. From his look of shock, it appears that this drop was unintentional. While Riley and I looked at each other with a raised eyebrow, The Maestro said, “Let’s turn it over…. Don’t see any cracks to me.”

The Maestro was obviously done. I stood in a final bow position without mentioning bowing. The Maestro didn’t catch my hint, but knelt on the floor. Riley leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Let’s thank Hildegard for this lesson by doing our bow.” The Maestro stood up, but lost his balance and took the cello with him. Riley helped him stand. His eyes widened and he exposed all of his teeth. He stood facing me, but instead of bowing chomped with his jaw. Riley again whispered in his ear, “Thank you for…” Then he bowed just fine. As he strummed his cello I realized the C had fallen out of tune. I tuned it and Riley asked him to put the cello away while she loosened nook schnook (the bow). The Maestro placed the cello in the case but left it unzipped. Riley: “Is the cello ready to go in the car?” The Maestro: “No.” Riley (laughing): “What needs to happen?” The Maestro: “Zip.” He turned to the cello and zipped it up.

Today he wanted to play Mini-Chester. His bowing and fingering were so strong that he knocked the bridge out three times. I commented that he’s getting so strong at cello playing that maybe he has outgrown Mini-Chester. He didn’t quite understand. I told him that he was too big for Mini-Chester and needed a big cello now. Riley said, “It’s a good thing you have a big cello!”

The Maestro packed up and walked out the door without saying good bye. Since he’s four I won’t read too much into this, but I know we were both quite tired and he was feeling sick.

Ah well, he learned a few new things today. And I’m sure learning a lot about teaching.

[Two hours later: Riley emailed to tell me that The Maestro fell asleep on the way home from the lesson. She had to wake him up when she got to the store. I’m not surprised – poor guy!]