Category Memory
Junior High School
I woke up with a flash of memory. Since beginning this blog, I have been unable to remember whether I made it out of elementary school with my violin – I know I played in the fourth through sixth grades, but I’ve been unable to recall if I kept playing in junior high. The thing […]
Dancing to Remember
When I was younger I used to go out dancing a lot, but it’s been a long time. In the past five years I’ve probably been twice. I do still enjoy dancing; it’s just that it generally happens out in the world when I’d rather be sleeping. Last night I went to a friend’s 60th […]
Tuning
My mother told me about an old friend the other day. He’s an orchestra teacher at a suburban school in Kansas, and during his hour-long orchestra classes he spends the first fifteen minutes tuning instruments. I can only imagine how tedious and what an assault on the ears that must be. As I’ve just been […]
Fat Cats and Fourth Finger
Yesterday’s lesson was jam-packed. As I’ve mentioned, I’m getting a new song every week – Suzuki songs are sequenced to be skill-building, and this week’s is not only the longest to date, but it also brings in fourth (my pinkie) finger. I still find it quite strange how little I remember from my three years […]
We Are the World
I woke up in the middle of the night and then again this morning with the megahit 1980s benefit song “We Are the World” running through my head. Remember? I’m not too sure I remember very much. I was a child of the 80s, but a young one. So this post is a memory test […]
Big Lesson
I didn’t have a lesson the week of Christmas, but this week’s made up for it. In addition to Michael being home and finally getting to meet my teacher, it was my first lesson playing with my new violin. Teacher also tested it again, and it’s sounding great; I couldn’t be happier. As I mentioned […]
The Grand Schema of Things
The first time around, I played the violin for three years – the fourth through sixth grades, though there’s some chance I played in seventh grade. Strangely, I don’t remember it much at all. As I hold the violin and move the bow now, over 25 years later, it comes naturally enough – clearly I […]
Don’t Tell Aunt Rhody
As I practice, beginner ditties are coming back to me. The past two days I’ve remembered and been picking out a simple tune from one of my first music books back in elementary school – those books always featured a lot of folk music, and the one I thought I remembered was “Go Tell Aunt […]
Ryan Libel 