I took Sparkle and Glitter to a Suzuki piano workshop. It was two days full of music. Wander decided to go on an adventure that weekend, so it was just me and the girls.
In some ways the weekend was really stressful. I had to drive across town to and unfamiliar destination during rush how. I hate driving. I hate rush hour traffic. I got lost and turned around and couldn't find the hotel. It was late and I was so glad that I decided to come the night before rather than the morning of the workshop. Then on the day of the workshop I got turned around trying to find the college and was late arriving. The first class started okay because we were in the same room together. It was the Master Class with a Master Teacher, and Glitter totally lost it halfway through the class. The teacher didn't realize that Glitter didn't know the whole song, and asked Glitter to keep going. Glitter tried and did a wonderful job, but it was too overwhelming and she didn't think to simply say that she couldn't do it.
After that first class, the girls were in totally different classes for the rest of the day. I had to dart between kids and classrooms to get them where they needed to be, and some classes ran long. A couple of times I found one of my kids on the verge of tears because I didn't make it to the door as soon as her class finished and she wasn't sure where to go.
On the other hand, the workshop was a wonderful experience for the kids. They got to see all these other kids who worked hard a learning to play piano. They got to see kids of all ages who were just starting out, who where at their level, and who where above their level. All of us agreed that our favorite part of the workshop was the chamber music class. The kids got to play a song along with a violin and a cello. They learned how to communicate with the other players. They got to hear their songs enriched by the other instruments.
My second favorite class was Orff. The kids got to play on xylophones. At first Glitter was placed in a class with much older kids and it was too hard for her, but she plugged on. The second day I swapped her to Sparkle's class (with permission from the teacher), and it was a much better fit. I think that I liked both of these classes so much because they featured making music with other people. Most of piano playing is a solitary experience, yet there is much to be learned and enjoyed when making music with others.
The kids also liked the theory class. Af first they didn't think they would like it because they don't like their theory workbooks. But the theory class was really simple and mostly involved playing games. Sparkle's class was simple enough that Glitter could follow along easily.
Their other class was Eurythmetics. It was another fun class. Shoes off. Walking in rhythm. Hands and feet moving in time to the metronome. Lots of giggling. Sparkle's class even had balls bouncing around in time to the beat.
Oh, Sparkle also found and petted a nesting duck. How does the girl do that?
