Haley has a lukewarm relationship with classical music.
She knows continuing her study of classical music improves her overall violin/fiddle technique.
She practices faithfully for hours each day on her own...though she often says she would not be sad if she never had to play another etude or scale again.
Sometimes she talks about doing only Irish music then in the next moment decides to continue classical as well.
She loves the challenge of learning new pieces though it has been quite a while since she was really passionate about a new piece. When she had her last lesson of the "school year" with her teacher this year, he told her to begin learning Bach Partita in D minor and she was excited. She did some listening and began playing the first movement then decided she really liked the second movement so began playing that, too.
She was excited to have her first summer lesson with her previous, long-time classical violin teacher because she had mentioned beginning a certain piece at the concert on Sunday. When we arrived on Monday afternoon, her teacher had changed her mind about which piece to begin and Haley was a little thrown but, by the end of the lesson, she was completely on board.
She has listened to it played by many different musicians and listened carefully marking their dynamics so she can compare and contrast their different takes on the piece. She has practiced much more each day than usual using her Dr. Beat for rhythm or droning for intonation. She has even been caught singing it at odd times during the day. (I cannot remember the last time I caught her absentmindedly singing a classical piece.)
Today, every time she picked up her fiddle to play fiddle tunes at an outdoor event we attended all day, it became a violin first for a little while as she played through the two pages she had memorized the day after she began practicing the piece.
The piece she is thrilled to be playing…..
Sometimes I wonder how much longer Haley will happily take classical violin lessons...then moments like this happen to remind her how many really cool pieces there are out there for her to learn.
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