The End of Our Homeschooling Journey

I've been absolutely horrible at blogging since the summer. No excuses other than finding other things to fill my time.

So catching up a bit....

Summer in Dublin was a wonderful experience. We walked all over the city and saw sights we never would have thought to see on a short vacation trip. We spent many days hiking the cliffs of Howth or from Bray to Greystones and took two trips up to Belfast and Giant's Causeway. Haley was fabulous in Riverdance and she loved performing the show and the people she worked with. She loved playing the music and the spaces where she was able to improvise a bit. She enjoyed meeting and making friends with her co-workers. She had her first taste of a real social life with nights out, a few dates, and hanging with friends. I was glad to be there and meet the people she will be touring with for six months beginning in January. Our last week in Killarney was my favorite time. The beginning of the week was sunny and a bit warmer than Dublin. I am not a city-person so preferred the green and the mountains.

While in Dublin, Haley began her final semester of high school and, about halfway through the run, her dual enrollment courses started so she was working hard to meet school deadlines, go to work each evening, and have some time to enjoy the experiences Dublin had to offer. Once we got home from Ireland, eighteen hours later we were on a plane headed to California for a festival with accordion player John Whelan. When we got home from that a day later, we drove to Baltimore, MD for a weekend of music creativity with a new ensemble she is looking forward to working with. A week later, we spent three weeks on the road, driving from NC to Vermont for a tour with Quinn Bachand then south to Philadelphia to visit family, then New York and back to Philadelphia for two gigs with Mick Moloney and friends then home for the month of November.

All the while, she kept up with school on the road. She finished up her final two weeks of dual enrollment courses while putting together and touring A Christmas Celtic S*journ in Boston, MA. My hard-working girl graduated high school in December with a 4.0 GPA and 42 college credits.

She had planned to complete her Associates degree by the time she graduated high school (originally planned for May 2020) by taking the rest of the college courses in Spring 2020 but with the opportunity to tour for six months as fiddler for the 25th Anniversary North American Tour of Riverd*nce, we decided she would graduate early and enjoy tour without the additional pressure of college courses. This provided her the opportunity to determine how much free time she will have for coursework while touring as she transfers to University of North Carolina-Wilmington to earn a Bachelor's degree in International Studies with a concentration in Arts and Literature in the fall. The online degree program will allow her to continue doing what she loves--touring with her music--while completing a degree. All her community college credits will transfer so she is 1/3 through college.

Haley began the 25th Anniversary North American tour in Montreal in January right after New Years and everything was going amazingly well. The company flew her to Dublin, Ireland for a week in February to do their 25th Anniversary shows at the 3Arena, one of which they filmed for movie theaters. Mid-March had her performing at Radio City Music Hall when the coronavirus turned the world sideways. Her daddy and I had flown up for a week to be with her in NYC but by the 3rd day of shows, the company decided to cancel the rest of the tour and we brought her home to North Carolina where we've been quarantined since. (We did go out that first weekend to see Haley on the big screen for the Riverd*nce movie premier then returned to our solitary lives.)

Haley has been keeping herself busy learning Irish, coming up with music projects for herself, practicing, exercising, cooking/baking, blogging, reading, and drawing. Just waiting to see what is going to happen...

Classic-al Haley

I rarely blog about Haley's classical music anymore.

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.

Nice Review!

Almost exactly four years ago, a man in Chicago named Bill Margeson wrote a blog (http://my.liveireland.com/profiles/blogs/margeson-on-the-music-april-1) that included a bit about Haley. I stumbled upon that post a year or so later by accident while searching for a different article.

When the kids released their CD, I thought Mr. Margeson might like to have a listen so I contacted him for an address and sent one off. He and his partner, Imelda, began playing tunes from the album on their Sunday afternoon radio program broadcast worldwide on www.liveireland.com at 1pm EST. Haley, Dylan, and I have listened in for the past two weeks.

Today he posted a nice review of the album on his blog Margeson on the Music. Here it is… http://my.liveireland.com/profiles/blogs/margeson-on-the-music-may-2015.

Haley spent the weekend with sort of a split personality.

Friday night, she and Dylan were fiddling tunes at a multicultural festival in the town next to us then yesterday, her fiddle became a violin as she performed the first movement of the Mozart Concerto in D Major and a couple short duets with her classical violin teacher.

Weekend Ramblings

Haley has grown a lot this year so we have been seriously shopping for a full size fiddle for the past couple weeks. This has been involved a lot of research, driving, and for Haley, playing fiddle after fiddle after fiddle. Last week, we drove to Long Island and Haley spent the day playing fiddles…a whole lot of fiddles then went to White Plains for a fiddle lesson and session at Dunnes. We spent Tuesday afternoon visiting two other violin shops and playing what they had to offer. At one point we had six different violins in the house…some she preferred for fiddling and others she liked with her classical music. Friday we drove to White Plains to have Brian listen to the fiddles then returned the three we'd taken from the shop on Long Island the week before.

About halfway between NY and home, Haley played a lovely house concert gig with the guys (see photo above). It was a beautiful home and an attentive, enthusiastic audience. The hosts had gone all out. They had the entire home decorated, Irish snacks and foods, Irish books, and a video beautiful Irish scenery played in the background. The "band" played some fun sets of tunes with John singing songs between. (I love his voice.) We had a late night.

Saturday morning we woke early and drove to Fortescue, NJ on the Delaware Bay. When I was young we always took the family boat out of Fortescue to go fishing. Two years ago, Hurricane Sandy damaged much of the town including The Charlesworth Inn, a restaurant whose owners are supporters of Irish music. Unfortunately, the State of NJ forgot about Fortescue when handing out grant money to rebuild. Recently, the owners of the Charlesworth were informed by the state they must be open and running before the new year in order to receive any grant money so work crews of volunteers have been helping clean and repair the Inn. We decided to join the volunteers for the day and help out where we can. Haley and I packed up dishes then helped paint in the basement where the flood waters had damaged the floor and walls while Dylan and Daddy helped break down damaged chairs, scrape floors, and caulk windows.

Haley helping paint.

Putting in a window and caulking.

 We rode back home, got showers, then headed to the kids' gig at Emley's Hill Methodist Church where they were playing at a coffee house to raise money for a food bank. Some local children sang, Haley and Dylan played a set, and a band, including our friend Mike, played Civil War era music to finish off the night. Haley and Dylan joined them for Ashokan Farewell. It was a fun concert.

Today Haley's friend Emily and her mom came to play. Emily is an amazing Irish harper who won an All Ireland under 12 harp slow air title in 2013, the same year Haley took home the All Ireland trophies. The girls played some music together and worked out a couple sets for a gig they have in March but mostly they spent the afternoon decorated, and eating, cupcakes and hanging out together. 

One last photo just because it looks really fall-like and Halloween-y.

Changes

This fall is full of changes for our family.

Newt is off to college. Instead of seeing him, I have to make do with talking or texting him daily. The whole family is looking forward to seeing him in a couple weeks on his first visit home.

Dylan is no longer playing football. The time came where he had to chose his music or sports because one took up time he needed for another. He chose music.

It is pretty easy for anyone to see the changes in Haley…she is growing up. Her face is maturing…along with the rest of her. Besides the physical changes, she has had a lot of other changes this year.

For the first time since she was seven, she is not involved in an orchestra. She decided she wanted to spend her time doing Irish music. I was initially a little worried about her not having time to make music with kids around her age…since she spends most of her music making time with adults but opportunities have come up in the last six months that allow her to work, play sessions, and perform with her young Irish music playing friends regularly.

Another change has been her violin teacher. We have known for a while she will eventually need a "violin" teacher because her teacher is a violist. Her teacher came up with a solution, after Haley decided against her first idea of a solution. So at least for the next few months, she is working with a new teacher. She enjoys her lessons with him and having someone new to play for has motivated her to practice even more (even using her Dr. Beat without me bringing it out…Miss Gerry would be so happy). I am not allowed to attend her lessons so she has also taken control of her violin education and practice….though she still often asks me to listen while she is practicing or comes and plays for me to show me what she is working on. I don't know what will happen when our time with him is over but for now she's in a good place.

Change #3…I thought we'd be unable for her to continue with her writing tutor due to finances (college) so had come up with a writing program for her myself. This week her writing tutor asked us to visit for tea because she had a proposal for Haley. Turns out she is publishing a book (Christian home schoolers might enjoy checking out the link) and would like Haley to provide the music for her audiobook version. In return, she will continue to work with Haley on her writing.

One last change…hasn't happened yet but is in the works…a new full size fiddle. We are doing a lot of shopping. It isn't easy.

Amazing how God provides so things fall into place. I feel like Haley's entire musical life has been one "accident" or "coincidence" after another. I have to think maybe God has a plan we don't know about because I surely couldn't have planned any of this.

Weekend Ramblings....or Concert Weekend Part 2

Haley tuning up the orchesta.

 Last weekend was solo concert weekend and this weekend was orchestra. Friday night Haley had a dress rehearsal for orchestra and Saturday afternoon was her first concert as concertmaster of PRYSM. The concert went beautifully. They played St. Paul's Suite by Gustav Holst, Five Variations of Dives and Lazarus by B. Vaughn Williams, and Fiddle Faddle by Leroy Anderson.

Haley had a number of solos and loved the pieces...all were more fiddle-y than most classical music. Dives was variations on Star of the County Down, a popular Irish song and they had a lovely harp part. The last movement of St. Paul's was known by us as The Irish Washerwoman and Fiddle Faddle, well the title says it all. Though it isn't Irish fiddling, it is fast and fun to play!

Full side-by-side orchestra

Haley with her stand partner.

After the concert we drove back to our side of the bridge and went out to dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in the town where we had to be for another concert. Haley's buddy, Paraic, gave us tickets to the Clannad concert in our area. So, after dinner we went to take in the concert. (I didn't realize they wrote and performed the theme to the Last of the Mohicans movie...I love that movie.

Haley and Daddy at dinner.

Haley waiting for the concert to begin.

Sunday, we made a quick trip to New York for a fiddle lesson.

Weekend Ramblings....

It's been a busy but fun weekend. Looks like we get an extra day because schools are cancelled for inclement weather which, right now, consists of rain. I am beginning to wonder if my senior will ever graduate. Unluckily for Haley, school is never cancelled for weather. (insert evil grin)

Friday night was the last regular rehearsal before next weekend's concert for Haley's orchestra. I was amazed at how good they sounded because the rehearsal prior was a little rough in some spots but what a difference a week makes! I love the way it sounds when all the kids play together and it just works.

Saturday morning we headed down near the shore for Newt's wrestling quad match. He improved his wrestling record to 114 wins and this past week was named Wrestler of the Week by the area newspaper as a result of his big win by pin last weekend against a former State place winner. The match ended rather quickly because none of the four teams had a full squad. After the match, I drove Haley and Dylan into the city to meet with Haley's friends, Alex and Keegan, so they could work on a couple sets for the "grand finale" of a concert they are all doing in March. We meet at a pub in the city, Fergies, because it is a central venue for all of us and usually are able to use the upstairs room to rehearse but this week it was taken so they had to rehearse downstairs in the actual pub. The other nice thing about meeting there is the session after their rehearsal. It is one of Haley's favorite session venues.

Sunday was our busiest day...and the only day I remembered the camera. Haley had her classical teacher's studio recital where she performed the 3rd movement of Mendelssohn's Concerto in E. She did a great job!

Tuning up before the concert. It wasn't that long ago when Haley was the tiny one in line!

Then we rushed off to Sacred Heart Church where she and Dylan performed at a concert to benefit Heart of Camden, an organization that buys and completely refurbishes homes which they then sell to low income families (they have sold over 200 refurbished homes so far!!). The kids have participated in this fundraiser for the last three or four years and really enjoy it. There is a wonderful crowd, great performers, good sound, and the venue is beautiful.

Caught Dylan smiling!

Okay, Haley is the one looking serious.

Concert grand finale! That boy dancing on the far left was absolutely awesome!

Here's a little video sampling from the concert! Check out the tiny little dancer at 2:47!

Recording Gig....

My daughter was hired today to go into a recording studio to set down violin tracks onto a song....a song she'd never heard before this afternoon. The man running the show would give her an idea of what he wanted, let her listen to the part of the track and play around with it, then tell her to take the basic melody and "run with it." According to Clay, Haley, "spoke the language." She understood exactly what he meant when he said things to her like where to start, which note to change, how to add more feeling or make something fancier and she took direction really well. She came up with some amazing sounding stuff to go along with the song with melody lines, harmony, and rifts. Sometimes Clay had an exact idea of what he wanted, sometimes he let her play around and come up with something herself, and other times she played something he hadn't thought of before and he liked it and kept it.

It was a really neat experience and something she'd never done before. I guess we can now add the pop music genre to her list.

Haley and Paraic working hard in the studio...a lot of time in the studio is spent waiting.

Rock Star Haley.

Learning the basic melody line.

Spring!

Vivaldi's Spring, that is. Haley opened up her teacher's spring studio recital this past weekend with this.

Suzuki Memories...

Haley and I were looking for something under my bed the other day and came upon her first violin scrapbook. Haley took a picture of this picture with her iPad and sent it to me. It is Haley at her very first violin concert when she was 3 years old. She and three other 3-4 year olds in her group class got up on stage, bowed, sang a "Up Like a Rocket" and something else, bowed again, and walked off stage.

I love the Suzuki start to violin. I love the way the children learn everything through games and skills are broken down into easily accomplished components depending on the child's needs. I love the way the children, even those who have not yet learned a song and maybe just know how to bow correctly (violin in rest position, feet together, look at your shoes, down 1-2-3, up, ta-da!!!) are encouraged to be in front of an "audience." The Suzuki approach worked perfectly for us. I read the books, followed the teacher's directions, was home enough to fit in practice multiple times during the day whenever Haley brought me her violin, and kept it fun for her.

Looking at this picture and the others in the scrapbook reminded me of all our time together practicing over the years. My niece is beginning her Suzuki "journey" and her mom sent me a note thanking me for giving her the Helping Parents Practice book by Ed Sprunger. I didn't really use the book much because I bought it after we already had a good practice routine but I found many of "our" games in there plus more.

I look back fondly on those little games... (here are a few)
-playing in various rooms in the house, in front of mirrors, or outside
-playing for different "audiences" from Lego people to Playmobile people to a line of stuffed animals
-flashcards for tunes and technique (pick one from each pile and do what's on them)
-"See if I can guess what you are working on"  (Haley secretly focuses on a technique while playing a piece and I have to guess what it is)
-laying on the floor to play
-playing different rhythms we made up
-play what I play (where I play a few notes on the piano and Haley played them back on her violin)
-using an abacus or small treats to "count" repetitions...Haley loved to "finish" the abacus in a week

When Haley started violin, I didn't have any expectations or plans. She had asked to learn to play and I thought music education was important for brain development. I figured she'd have her weekly lesson and group class, we'd practice every day during the week, and by the time she was a teen, she'd have a decent ability to play violin. I had no idea how much she'd love playing and how integral a part of our lives music would be.

Sometimes, I joke about running the other way if I'd have known but seriously that is just a joke, though it is not easy keeping up with a child who loves what they are doing. I know it is the same for parents of any child doing something at an advanced level whether it is academics, sports, music, etc... The costs, driving time, sacrifice of personal time and things, finding appropriate opportunities, and trying to balance all that with the needs of other family members often feels like a tight rope walk or juggling act.

But it is all worth it when you see that same smile on the face of your 10 year old having fun doing what she loves to do whether she is on a huge stage or fiddling around in a corner of a room with her friends at a small session.

Classical music....

It seems like all I blog about lately are our Irish music adventures. Haley has been working really hard on her classical music as well. In the past few months she's started and polished up all these pieces. she finished going over and putting the final touches on the Kabalevsky with her teacher just days before she recorded it.

She seems to practice more, work harder, and enjoy herself more when she has more to work on so the past few months have been fun. Now she is getting some new notes which is always her favorite thing to do.

Mozart Sonata in C Major

Kabalevsky Concerto 3rd Movement

Bach Partita in E Major Prelude

She also worked on and recorded a Kreutzer etude but I think she might be angry if I post that so I won't.

Nine Hours...

Nine hours....the amount of time Haley had a fiddle in her hand yesterday. Three hours...the amount of time she spent in the car driving from one thing to another. Doesn't leave much time for anything else in a day.

Yesterday was a very music-filled day. Haley woke and practiced her orchestra music and fiddle in the morning (at least 1 hour). We drove to a rehearsal for a couple gigs she and Dylan are doing with some other musicians, this is one...the Celtic Celebration (yeah, I know she was 9 when they hired her for it but has since had a birthday). The rehearsal went fairly quickly (1.5 hours) and they figured out some sets to play together then worked out an outline for the different events.

We then drove home where she logged in another 2.5 hours practicing classical violin. We had a couple hours down time so she and I baked some chocolate chip squares to take with us that evening and killed a few zombies....Dylan wouldn't play with me as he was too busy lying around so I recruited Haley. Ha!

We then got back into the car and drove to a wonderful house party in Philly. The tiny little home in the city was filled almost to overflowing with people playing Irish music together and those listening to it being played. I don't know that I have ever seen so many different instruments in such a small space. Haley's uillean pipe playing friend, Keagan, was there though he was uillean pipe-less as his pipes are trapped in Maine in the snow storm waiting to come home with a new set of drones so he had his tin whistle with him. There was good food, instrumental music, singing, and story telling. I think it is amazing that my child gets to be a part of such a long tradition of music and fun.

We were at the party from 6pm until we dragged Haley out at 11pm though I only counted 4 hours of that in my total above since we ate when we first arrived. Haley didn't want to leave. She kept saying, "One more set!" Yeah, folks, we force her to play her violin all the time! Truth is...she forces us to stay out late to listen to her play her fiddle. ("Haley can we please leave now. Mommy and Daddy are tired." Ha!)

That photo at the beginning of this post was taken at the Dublin Ohio Celtic Festival back in August 2012 by Andi Wolfe (website). She took some great photos of the John Whelan Band while they performed. I needed a publicity photo of Haley for a gig she has with John this coming August and I liked this one a lot.

                         Does anyone know what this is? (Hint...the answer is somewhere in this post.)

Dylan is taking a guitar class in school this semester. They offer Guitar 1 and Guitar 2. Newt had taken Guitar 1 as a freshman. I knew it would be mind-numbingly easy for Dylan so I got special permission from the teacher for him to just skip to Guitar 2. The nice thing is Dylan has been picking up his guitar much more to fool around on it since starting the class this week. He has been so busy first with football then with wrestling that he hasn't had much time to just play unless he has to practice with Haley for a gig. I hope he learns something from the class as well.

A Biological Reason for Early Music Lessons?

I wrote a post a while ago in response to a discussion on when to start a child in music lessons on the Well Trained Mind Boards. Many people on the boards were telling the original poster that it was good to wait until a child is older because they will be more mature and learn faster (though this has not been my experience at all). In that post I listed a number of reasons why I thought early music training was important as it pertained to my own child. I won't go back into all that because it is all right here.

Yesterday, this was posted in a Suzuki Chat yahoo group. It is from an article in New Science magazine and presents a biological reason for early music training.

"Good news for pushy parents. If you want your child to excel
musically, you now have better justification for starting their
lessons early. New evidence comes from brain scans of 36 highly
skilled musicians, split equally between those who started lessons
before and after the age of 7, but who had done a similar amount of
training and practice.

MRI scans revealed that the white matter in the corpus callosum - the
brain lesion that links the two hemispheres - had more extensive
wiring and connectivity in the early starters. The wiring of the
late starters was not that much different from that of non-musician
controls. This makes sense as the corpus callosum aids speed and
synchronisation in tasks involving both hands, such as playing
musical instruments (Journal of Neuroscience,DOI:
101523/neurosci.3578-12.2013).

Christopher Steele of the Max Planch Institute for Human Cognitive
and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, says this is the most
compelling evidence yet that younger-trained musicians have an
advantage because their training coincided with a key period of brain
development. At age 7 or 8, the corpus callosum is more receptive
than ever to the alterations in connectivity necessary to meet the
demands of learning an instrument."

The first sentence of this article, "Good news for pushy parents," is really annoying. It is a generalization and makes me question the intelligence of the article writer. Supposing that all parents who begin their child in musical training before 7 years old are "pushy" is presumptuous and completely incorrect. I know a good number of people who started younger children, sometimes reluctantly, on musical instruments based on their child's desire to play.

Anyway, the interesting thing about this report on the study was that those who started musical training after 7 years old had MRIs not much different from that of non-musician controls. So, after 7-8 years old, musical training does not cause changes to the corpus callosum...the area of the brain involved in speed and synchronization in tasks involving both hands?  Sounds like a bit of scientific proof for another benefit to early musical training.

Another Busy Weekend...Part 2

We started Sunday by meeting with Haley's friend, Emily, for a picture of the two of them so we can make up flyers for their fundraiser for Ireland. Emily is a 2X Under 12 Harp Slow Air Champion and has also qualified the last couple years in the harp dance tune category. Our fundraiser plans are going really well. The pub where Haley performs on the occasional Sunday agreed to host the event. It is the perfect place with room for a band and dancing so we are really excited!

After the meeting at the park, we went to Haley's classical teacher's studio recital. We arrived early for a quick run-through of the Bach Double then listened to a wonderful concert. I am always impressed by these concerts because even smallest child playing Twinkles demonstrates concentration and focus on those things I know this teacher works on. It is also like visiting old friends hearing those Suzuki pieces Haley played not all that long ago.

The concert was long...2 hours and Haley went last, playing Praeludium and Allegro by Fritz Kreisler. The Grand Finale was a large group performance of Bach Double Violin Concerto 1st mvmt.  Haley led the 1st violins while her teacher led the 2nd violins. It was so neat hearing so many people playing that piece together. They did a great job!

After the concert Haley changed clothes then we hung out at the park for awhile before heading to the pub for her to "get the Irish" back into her. We ate dinner and she fiddled with Gabe off and on for a few hours in between his songs and "one man band" tunes. He has a loop machine so can play guitar melody, guitar accompaniment, percussion on his guitar, tin whistle, and sing all at the same time.

Fleadh Champion! Or Otherwise Entitled...What a Weekend!

 Here she is! The 4X MidAtlantic under 12 Irish fiddle champion! She is very excited to keep the trophy for another year and to get to go to Cavan, Ireland to try for an All Ireland title again.

What a crazy weekend we had...yes, folks, crazier than usual. Hard to believe, I know. Haley's competition under 12's was split into 2 groups because of the number of competitors. The judges were to pick 5-6 kids from each group to compete in the finals at 10am. As is not all that unusual in these things, everything was running late and at 10:30 the other original group was still not finished competing.

The problem with this was that Haley needed to be back home in Philly for her PRYSM orchestra concert (remember a post awhile back about me needing a helicopter...well, I didn't get one) at noon...almost 2 hours away. Her teacher spoke to those in charge and the adjudicator agreed to hear her so we could leave. Haley played and we immediately jumped in the car and drove, like lighting, to Philly. (I did not speed...ahem, my dad drove.)  She didn't feel she had played as good the second time as she did the first...probably because she was watching her mom go from mildly annoyed to extremely stressed as the time we were delayed increased and increased. We arrived about 40 min. late but just in time for her to do the pre-concert rehearsal with her group.

The concert was wonderful though a little sad since it was dedicated to the passing of their conductor and director, Mr. D. The kids did a great job I will never cease to be amazed at all they accomplish each season.

After the concert, we got back in the car and headed back to the Fleadh venue. We had learned the results while driving so knew Haley had placed 1st and Dylan did a great job but did not place. Since Haley was being shuffled to Philly, he had to accompany a friend who he isn't used to playing with but he was a champ and played great!

We arrived back at the hotel and walked in the door just in time to hear them call Haley's name to be presented with her trophy. She walked in and was presented her trophy. I usually get photos of these things but since it was so crazy, I didn't even think to get my camera out.

This is why we go to the Fleadh! After the competitions are over, the kids hang out with their friends and play music together. Haley and Dylan have a group of friends we see every year. They know each other well now and the fiddlers all have the same teacher so have a lot of tunes in common. They played music from about 7:30pm until midnight.

Some time around 10pm, Haley, Alex, and Keegan decided they wanted to form a trio and compete the following morning. Haley and Alex both play fiddle and have the same teacher so know a lot of the same tunes but Keegan is just learning uilleann pipes so has a limited repertoire. The kids spent the next 2 hours trying out tunes and going through tune lists (and goofing off together) then practiced the 2 tunes they picked a couple times.

When I finally told Haley we just had to go to bed it was midnight. We walked into the hall near the elevators and saw John Whelan playing in a session. He asked Haley to have some tunes and she was happy to oblige since she loves playing with him. They played tune after tune. I think we finally got to bed sometime around 1am.

I volunteered Sunday morning and had to announce competitors for the duet competitions. I think I massacred at least 6 Irish names and I missed the kids trio competition. They played really well together and were encouraged by the adjudicator to try again next year. They didn't place because their variations were not played together...they didn't know they had to play every note together because they'd never done that competition before. Haley went swimming with the boys and Dylan watched his friends compete in duets. We went for lunch with the same friends then headed home.

Crazy weekend finished!

Practice Marathon...

A couple weeks ago Haley's orchestra had a Practice Marathon where the kids were to get sponsors then keep track of their practice for the week to help raise money for the orchestra. Haley practiced her usual, well a little less than her usual a couple days because it was a really busy week. She logged 17 hours of practice and won the prize for the most hours practiced.

She is looking forward to a different kind of practice marathon tomorrow. Once a week Haley practices with Madi, a wonderful violinist who graduated from Juilliard a couple years ago. Madi has been working with Haley for the past two years. She is young and Haley looks up to her. She always seems to work on the same things Haley's classical teacher thinks is important and she mostly helps Haley polish her orchestra music so she doesn't use regular lesson time for that.

Tomorrow will be their 2nd practice marathon. Haley will spend a few hours practicing at Madi's. Madi will give her bits of her piece to work on then leave her to practice those bits. Haley really enjoyed the 1st marathon around Christmas and has been asking and asking to have another.

Last week Haley started learning Praeludium and Allegro by Fritz Kreisler. This piece has been one of her favorites to listen to and she is really excited to be working on it. I haven't seen her this excited to work on a piece in awhile. She had asked her teacher when she can move up to a 3/4 size fiddle and her teacher gave her the choice of moving up a size and working on a slower piece or keeping her current fiddle and learning Praeludium. Guess what her choice was!

Paganini...Moto Perpetuo

Sunday, Haley performed Moto Perpetuo by Paganini for her teacher's studio recital. She worked really hard preparing because she had decided just before Christmas to play it instead of the Bartok Rumanian Dances she had originally chosen and she hadn't yet learned the last two pages of this piece then a week ago, her teacher had to move the concert up from Jan. 29th to the 22nd giving her one less week. She did a great job and worked really hard!

I did notice that the dress choice was not the best since it kept threatening wardrobe malfunction. Amazing that she memorized all those very similar notes and that she could keep going that quickly and still manage to keep her dress straps and sliding violin from falling off her shoulder! LOL

Really Busy Friday!!!

Sometimes it seems like everything is scheduled on the same day. The next couple weekends we have days like that because of concerts and rehearsals, etc...

Yesterday was the first of those days. After getting the boys off to school, taking showers, eating breakfast, straightening up the house, doing two loads of laundry, and packing up for the day, we headed off for a rehearsal at 11:30am with the accompanist for Haley's classical concert on Sunday. She played through her Paganini Moto Perpetuo three full times and a number of partial times with the piano. One small brain fart and the piece will completely fall apart so it takes a lot of concentration.

From that rehearsal we headed to the next town over, ate the lunches we had packed and then went to Haley's violin lesson at 1pm. Her teacher did not make her work a lot on her Paganini since she had already played it so much. She played through it once, they talked about the opening, and a spot where she keeps playing F# rather than F natural. Then she put fingerings in her next Kreutzer exercise and worked on the Bartok Rumanian Dances.

Every Friday we go straight from violin lessons to grab some dinner then head over to the city for PR*SM orchestra rehearsal from 6:30 to 8:30. We always get there early and help set up the room. We don't have enough time to drive home and leaving a little later puts us in the middle of rush hour traffic so we just go help.

Last weekend, Haley's friend Paraic asked her to come to a gig he was doing at the Shanachie Pub which is only 15-20 min from where orchestra rehearsal takes place so we headed straight from orchestra to the pub. Paraic, Gabe, and David played tunes and sang songs. They invited Haley to join them on stage and she played some tunes on her own and some with Paraic while Gabe accompanied. They asked her back up in the 2nd half and then again at the end. She had a lot of fun playing with them. She stayed up the whole ride home even though we didn't get home until 1am. I thought for sure she'd be asleep before I even got on the highway after leaving the pub but she talked and sang to me all the way home.

Next Saturday is round #2 of Crazy, Busy Day!!!

New Notes...

Haley had her first lesson of the "new" year on Friday. After about a month without lessons but lots of great practicing even while playing hours and hours of Irish music in Ireland, she was happy to be able to put Kreisler's "Sicilienne and Rigaudon" onto her review list and get the go ahead to learn some new notes.

This piece is "heaven" to Haley. Lots of notes played really, really fast. To me, it looks like a Kreutzer exercise and that is probably her teacher's motivation for giving it to her but it is new, fast notes and nothing motivates my kid more than that. She will be practicing it by copying pages 1 and 4 then placing two music stands side by side loaded with music until it is memorized.

To top it off, she got 3 new tunes from her fiddle teacher yesterday...one, "Big John McNeal's," she'd been messing with from a Cape Breton player's CD. He gave her the Irish (Sean Maguire) version along with a tricky little tune to follow then another easy tune to go with her "Dr. Gilberts."

What a fun practice week she is going to have!

Why one might want to get a violin from a luthier.

We have had quite a few "dramas" over the years with violins. There have been suddenly unravelling strings...of course that only happens the day before a big performance. There was the time we tried to change the strings ourselves and ended up with a strange buzz. Each time we drive to the city and he fixes whatever the problem sometimes even staying open a little late so we can get there.

We had the big "fall on the violin causing the bridge to break into two pieces" episode. Yes, Haley was climbing up and down on a chair to change CD songs then climbing down to play along with her fiddle at 10pm at night and when climbing up, slipped and fell on her violin. The bridge flew off in two different directions. My husband was the hero in that one using Gorilla glue to glue that tiny bridge while my daughter cried her eyes out because she might not get to practice the next morning as she looked at her violin and said, "She looks so ugly!" (insert howl here!)

This past weekend we had another equipment drama. Haley was just playing with the ceili band on Sunday and came over with the metal end of her bow in her hand. It has just popped off.

Now, I have to tell you that this bow has been trouble from day 1. During the winter when we first got it, I thought it was just the weather causing it to be difficult to tighten and loosen then I kept putting off getting it checked out and kind of got used to its idiosyncracies.

So, I popped the metal end back on and it seemed to be tight but on Monday it popped off again. Of course, I had to work late yesterday and then we are leaving early this morning for Hershey Park and the next morning for camp for 10 days so no way to get to the luthier. I just figured we would take it to camp, pray for the best, and take it in when we get home.

Haley had her violin lesson and her teacher suggested I call the luthier because a woman who works in his shop has a son who takes viola with Haley's teacher. The teacher thought this wonderful lady might be able to bring a bow home with her which I could pick up after hours. I called and drove to her house after work, traded bows, and now Haley has a working bow for camp!