During our annual visit to Phoenix last summer, Ava told her Aunt Kathy about the beautiful violin she had back home in Texas. She told Kathy how she loves to play and how much she really enjoys the lessons she goes to each week. Seems innocent enough, right? Well, it was total bullshit. Miss Ava Sassy Pants had made it all up. Kathy is a mom and a teacher and she saw through Ava’s story, but she also felt that Ava was pretty passionate about this violin business. Passionate enough that she bought her one for Christmas.
Christmas day we let her carry it around and try to play it some. All we heard was dull scratching sounds. It took us the entire day to figure out how to make the damn thing not sound like a wretching cat. Through the miracles that are Google and YouTube we were able to learn that the bow needs rosin to actually make music. Who knew?
With a freshly rosined (is that even a word?) bow, Ava was on her way to making real notes with her tiny violin. I told her that the violin is what you hear during scary parts of movies. For the next few days, she sat with her violin perched under her tiny chin waiting for a scary show to come on so she could accompany the music. Cutest thing ever.
We decided that getting her signed up for lessons would be a good idea. I researched teachers for about a month before settling on a local music school with a dedicated violin instructor. Last night was her first lesson. She was excited about this day for weeks and couldn’t wait to get started.
When we got there, things went smoothly at first. And then Ava was told to sit down and put rosin on her bow. This is where my sweet six year old erupted into a possessed crazy woman for the next 30 minutes. She refused to listen. Complained about having to stand up to play. Flailed on the floor. Kicked off a shoe. I was so embarrassed.
But, I’m making her go back next week. And the next. And the next. In between tiny fits of rage, I heard her make some beautiful notes. I hope that she’ll learn to love the process of learning a craft and perfecting a skill. She needs to know how important persistence is and how practicing will pay off.
But I’ll be damned if I sit in the same room with her from now on!
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