Violin

Last summer Victoria decided she wanted to play violin. This came as a bit of a shock to us as we had just assumed she would play piano (since we own one and where to practice wouldn't be an issue). But when the idea of violin came up, we had to give it some thought. Since it was totally her idea and she seemed quite eager, we thought we better at least let her try it out rather than discourage the idea. So after doing a bit of research and talking to a violin teacher, we set it up and in September she began her lessons. It's been very convenient as she can have the lessons right at her school and we are even able to rent a violin from her teacher (as opposed to spending the money on purchasing one - just in case she change her mind).

If you know anything about the violin, you'll know that it's quite a challenging instrument to learn. It takes weeks just to master how to hold it correctly and so you don't actually get to play on it for quite a while. But Victoria was pretty determined and stuck with it. Once she had the holding down pat, she was so excited to begin playing and has learned songs such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me, Old MacDonald had a Farm, etc. It's been a lot of fun and she's really enjoyed learning it. Finding time and energy to practice hasn't always been easy but she's done really well.

Last night Victoria had her very first violin recital. When her teacher first started mentioning the recital, Victoria was not keen at all on the idea. We talked about it quite a bit over the last few weeks and practiced the song she would play. We told her that she could stay on the floor by the piano to play instead of going up onto the raised platform. She often told us that she wasn't going to play. Her teacher was okay with that but really wanted Victoria to at least come to the recital to see what it was all about so that perhaps next year she'd be comfortable enough to play. Once in a while she would show some excitement about the upcoming recital but we really didn't think she would play.

Well, she surprised us last night. Her name was on the program and when it was her turn, she strolled right up the stairs to the raised platform, did her opening bow, played her song, did her closing bow and sat back down. She then looked right over at us and smiled from ear to ear. Needless to say, we were beaming too!

Way to go Victoria! Mommy and Daddy are really proud of you!