Confession:  Today I had a bon-bon.

I had never had one before.  I HAD joked about eating them, however.  When I moved to St Louis a few years ago, it took awhile before people realized that I actually worked.  Let me clarify.  When I moved to St Louis a few years ago, it took awhile before I actually worked.  And the joke was that I simply sat around and ate bon-bons all day.  (Not true, obviously I like all kinds of food in addition to bon-bons, and occasionally I play the violin, yell at children, or go outside dressed in bright colors to run around in circles.)

However.  Here in Ottawa (that’s Ottawa, Kansas, to all you Canadians that keep commenting, so sorry!) there is a delightful fudge shop.  Really, more of a fudge shoppe.

You may recall I visited the other day.  In any case I needed to return today for a quick errand, in addition to wanting to try some more of their delicious chocolate candy.

This is me in front of the bon-bon selection.  It was a tough decision but I chose a dark chocolate peanut butter one.  Yes, I’m still wearing my institute ID even though we are technically off campus.  It’s just easier.  Don’t mock me.

Holly and I decided to walk around campus a bit as well (to work off the bon-bons).

The dorm.

This is a memorial?

The Administration Building where many classes are.

Taking your own picture is hard…

Ok off to class!

Edited to add:  After talking to Chris on the phone, he said "Where are you?  You say you’re at Suzuki camp but it sounds like you are at some sort of magical candy land instead."

Happy Thursday morning everybody!  I’m writing this post the night before, but delaying its production because I can.

How was my Wednesday?  Overall great.

It was "wear your camp t-shirt day".  My roomies and I decided to go with it—after all, when else WOULD we wear our camp t-shirts?  (There was a group picture, but we skipped that.)

That’s Maggie with the evil look spearing the delicious (ha!) breakfast sausage.  The others are Holly and Michaela (left to right) and of course me.

8:30 am group class as usual, then to Terry Durbin’s class too.  (There is a little bit of a shortage of different classes to observe for book 5 at 8:30 and 9:30, but oh well.)  Terry told the story of the Seitz concerto (5/1) which involved Don Quixote and windmills and such.

10:30 I went to Carol Dallinger’s for the first time.  She is just wonderful!

Lots of great technique stuff happening.  I really need to bug my students more than I do. 

Snippets of information from today:

Get in the habit of looking at the notes before big shifts and string crossings.

The body is made to move.

Children that sing and participate in music acquire language sooner, faster, better, and remember it more than children that don’t.

Teach what is best for the student.

In music, there is no equivalent to an eraser.

Unrelated to Suzuki institute:  my wedding save the dates are SO close to being done.  I’m just working on getting all the addresses exactly right.  I am SO pumped.  They look awesome and I can’t wait to share them with you readers, but I will wait until my guests receive them to put them on the blog, because I want them to be a surprise.  It’s funny that I am here at Suzuki training but also working hard planning my wedding (minus my binder because I left it at home) and also being an awesome diligent blogger and keeping up my running.  I wear so many hats!

I wish I could run my July 4th race in these, but I can’t:

(from a student in a class today!)

I’m off to run!  And then technically, happy Thursday—today we are teaching each other in class, which, as you all know, freaks me out (teaching other people in front of people who are judging me teaching.)

In music, there is no equivalent to an eraser.

Yesterday in class we worked on how to teach the kids to play the slow movement of Vivaldi’s A minor in a sotto voce manner.  Strange for me—I have spent way too much of my life trying to play loudly!  It was a great lesson for me—I haven’t played that soft in awhile, plus it was a totally difference approach to the piece that I have had. 

I took my camera out at dinner last night.  Here’s Holly and Michaela (not sure of the spelling, must check!), my suitemates:

Holly ponders her fourth finger technique. 

Scott awkwardly grinning for the camera. 

Do I have an ethical responsibility to tell people I have a blog?  I didn’t quite get up the nerve to mention it…

By the way, the food is horrific.  Or I am just really picky?  Luckily both lunch and dinner had a salad bar with TURKEY on it and chickpeas!  Plus iceberg lettuce and broccoli.  And I yoinked two bananas for later (yesterday morning they only had two sad looking oranges at breakfast, so I’m stockpiling fruit.  Why, yes, I COULD go buy something at a store, but I have already paid for the cafeteria.)

Today is another busy day.  After breakfast I’ll observe three classes, then lunch.  After lunch we may be hitting up a local fudge shop before the afternoon class (dangerous, yes, but I feel confident I can manage–).  Then dinner, and then a recital by Brian Lewis, followed by a reception that was pretty great last year (I recall pineapple, punch, and cream puffs).

I feel like I’m slightly less busy than last year, though.  I think there was one additional parent class we did each day, plus yesterday I skipped the recital and the night concert because I wanted to have some chill out time.

Okay, I’m off!  What are you doing today?

That was a statement Terry Durbin made in a talk today at Suzuki Institute.  I like it!  After all, how many times have I written about my so-called patience, when I am clearly NOT a patient person.  I’m controlling and easily frustrated…aha!

I don’t have too much time because I have a little assignment to practice for class, but I wanted to give a quick update on how things are going here.  (Ottawa, Kansas for Suzuki Institute.)

This is my home until Friday.  (Apologies for the wrinkled bed, it’s tough to make a bed that is in the corner, plus I just don’t care enough).  I have my own room, but I share a suite with two other women taking teaching training who are actually quite fun and delightful!  We’ve been chitchatting quite a bit and eating meals together.  I always have an easy time making friends at these events since we all share a common bond—our love of teaching children to play violin and a constant desire to become BETTER at it.

This morning started early with an awful breakfast (the food is pretty bad…I am trying to take advantage of it and let this be a wonderful weight-loss/detox week.) The camp is a bit (understatement) disorganized this year and we still didn’t know what classes there were to observe.  The course I am taking requires 15 hours of class time and 8 hours of student class observations.  I always like to do MORE than the required observations since I’m here, so I really wanted to take up all my morning with classes.  We finally figured out some options and headed out. 

First I hit up Scott Conklin’s Book 5 Group Class.  I went to school with Scott back in the day and I think he was a bit unnerved by my presence.  Or just cause I was sitting next to my suitemate, Holly, who literally looks like Anne Hathaway (I’ll have to get a picture later…especially after Susan told us she couldn’t concentrate since we looked like models…Holly is like 6 feet tall, oh, and probably about 23 or 24…)

I decided to be a good blogger and snap some photos!

That’s Scott leading the class.  They were playing Bach Double when I got there (late due to the misinformation) and then Country Dance here.  The kids in the front didn’t know it yet so they were keeping an eye out for how the class was using their bows.

Next I went to Terry Durbin’s Class.  I just love Terry Durbin.  Last year he wasn’t teaching at the institute, but I know him from when I was a little girl attending Suzuki Institute.  He is a truly hilarious, crazy, inspiring teacher.  Part of my love of the violin came from classes with him.  Years ago, after institute, I told my sister Leslie I wanted to be a Suzuki violin teacher just like him.

She said, well, you aren’t funny enough.

I suppose she’s correct.

Anyhow.

After that was a class with Beth Titterington, and then the aforementioned lecture by Terry Durbin. 

I feel a little silly whipping out the camera, but seriously, why not?  I’m loving the quality of my new camera photos, and some of these things just need to be documented, right?  Like that hands on the nose/ear picture up there!

I am pretty funny, though, right?  Probably not as funny as I think I am…but still, funny, right?

Let me just give you a few more things I wrote down today.  These are for violin teaching, parenting, and life.

If you teach your children, you can change the world.

Understand the world on the child’s level.  Come UP to their sense of wonder and awe.

Children can only hear what they are ready, emotionally and mentally, to hear.

Support your child by being there and support them by truly being there when you are there.

You should not play the violin for accolades or to impress others.