PIANO

You'll have to excuse my tardiness.  I've been meaning to post this for a while and am just now getting around to it...

A couple of weeks ago I had two of the best lessons I've had all semester with my two Thursday girls.  Awesome is literally the word.  I've had both of these girls for two years... wow:  two years now.  I'm getting old...

My first girl on Thursday afternoons is in eighth grade this year and she's struggled with hand tremors the entire time I've had her as a student.  Her mom told me when we started that she's had them since she was a little girl and the pediatrician had told them they would eventually go away.  And they did in a lot of things, but piano was still lagging, because it requires such fine motor skills and focused coordination.  They've gotten better with time and practice, but recently there has been a marked difference.  Since March, I'd been determined to get them under control after the judge at Federation had made a comment on her score sheet about uneven runs.  So we worked.  We focused a lot on scales and how to work on them:  dotted, backwards dotted, 5-finger scales in contrary motion to practice the LH thumb turn, scale sprints.  And we talked about what goes through her brain when she's working on scales.  I strongly encouraged her to focus during her technical exercises and not just think about homework or what's for dinner.  It's so easy to check out while working on technique... of all people, I know this.

But then during her lesson several weeks ago, she played them with the most control I've ever seen her play them.  There were a few blips... instances where she lost focus, or made a fingering slip, or wasn't thinking about what was next.  But overall, it was pretty amazing to watch.  We talked afterward about how she'd been practicing and what she'd been thinking about.  Long story short?  She'd learned how to literally focus the tremors out.  I find that incredible.  I was so proud of her.  I knew she could do it.  And to be honest, I hadn't really known for sure what would work for her.  I knew where I wanted her to be and I knew what had worked for me in straightening out some of my scalar technique.  I also knew that the fifty billion different ways I gave her to practice her scales would help.  But they were a means to an end (still are!)... the end being learning how to focus and think clearly during an activity that is otherwise difficult, dry, and boring.  Because I mean, who likes practicing scales?  Well, besides my former professor...

My other Thursday girl has made leaps and bounds of progress this semester too, and it really came out in her lesson a few weeks ago.  This year she has struggled in general with anxiety a little and from what I can tell, exhaustion at times too.  Together, I think it has made piano (both performing and practice) difficult in ways that it didn't use to be for her.

But then, she decided to drop tennis.  And her scrapbooking club ended.  And basketball ended.  And all of a sudden, the only activities she was participating in were piano and Girls on the Run (and maybe Girl Scouts?).  Lessons for the last month have been truly delightful because she's been practicing more and therefore, enjoying it.  She is more prepared for our upcoming recital than ever before.  And even though she played through a panic attack last semester and I was so proud of her for working through that insanely difficult thing at such a young age, I really think this is going to be a different kind of positive experience for her.  The other night we were going over recital pieces, one of which will be "Little Bunny Foo Foo," complete with narration and a POOF chord at the end.  I fully expect it to be one of the highlights of the program :)

And as we were ending her lesson that night, she told me that she'd been practicing at school during her music time.  Um, extra practice time?  Yes please!  And then she told me she'd come up with an acronym for piano, based on the things she'd been learning / realizing recently.  If this doesn't kill you with cuteness and profundity, I don't know what will... kids say the most incredible things.

P... prepared
I... independent
A... awesome (lol)
N... (k)nowledge (again... lol)
O... open to new songs (or, for Katie:  Oh snap... that is hilarious and amazing)

Seriously?  I am so. incredibly. lucky :)