These boys had their autumn recital with their teacher Andy Happel today. Andy is Link's one and only teacher and he is a great match for Link. Meo has done some private lessons with Andy over the summer, but Meo mostly just does group lessons with Andy. It gives him a great opportunity to play and perform regularly with other homeschool friends as well as learn some non-classical pieces and techniques. These two practice practically everyday and we are grateful that some of their grandparents were able to make it to their recital to hear all their hard wor,.
Here are videos of both of the boys' performances.
Link playing "Morning":
Link playing "Oh Susanna":
Meo playing "Hunter's Chorus":
Meo featured in "Fiddler's Dream":
One of the several group performances. This one was "Off She Goes":
Afterwards, Grandma and Grandpa treated us all to pizza which has become a fun after recital tradition. Thank you so much! We love you guys!
We had a pretty cool weekend checking out the Maine Acoustic Festival. On Saturday, there was a free workshop with Daniel Bernard Roumain, a famous violinist and composer https://www.sozoartists.com/dbr/. The event was very inspiring; he spent a lot of time empowering the kids, encouraging them to declare themselves and be proud of their identity and their instruments. One exercise he did was point to people and have them say their name confidently. Sometimes he would gesture everyone to repeat that name in unison. When it was Meo's turn he said both his full and last name, which led to Daniel coming to kneel down at his level and thanking him for giving him permission to ask for last names and for being brave and for teaching him something new. It was pretty cool!. He also taught them how to make some cool sound effects with his violin, played for them, and orchestrated all of us in playing/singing the National Anthem. We all had a great time and were glad to share that experience with some of our great friends.
Here are some photos that the Portland Press Herald took of the event:
Meo and Emma; photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette
Danile playing in front of Meo; photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette
I look happy hehe; photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette
Portland Ovations posted about that moment between Daniel and Meo on their Instagram feed:
And here are a few photos I snapped of the workshop:
Meo with Kiara and Emma
phone photos of the whole group
Silly pose; photo by Tallie
Photo by Tallie
The workshop was run by 317 Main Community Center, and after the workshop they invited us to attend the student showcase portion of the Maine Acoustic Festival the next day. The boys and I were excited at the opportunity to hear the middle school and high school students make some wonderful Irish, Americana, and Contra music. They were wonderful!
Once Meo turned four years old, we thought he seemed ready to begin learning an instrument. There are so many benefits to learning an instrument when you are very young, including:
Increases memory capacity
Teaches perseverance
Enhances coordination
Relieves stress
Improves reading and comprehension skills
Betters your mathematical ability
Increases your responsibility
Sharpens your concentration
Creates a sense of achievement
Promotes social skills
Boosts listening skills
Teaches discipline
Promotes creativity
Elevates your performance skills and reduces stage fright
Increases hand and finger strength/respiratory capacity (depending on instrument)
Promotes happiness
It's fun!
Once Meo was 4.5, Meo was asking if he could learn to play the violin. At that point he was able to follow instructions and it seemed like he was capable of undertaking the huge commitment that goes along with learning an instrument: practice, practice, PRACTICE. So with the help of a fellow homeschooling mom who has two older boys in violin lessons that started at Meo's age, we found a private teacher, Deirdre Oehrtmann. She is a professional violonist in the Portland Symphony Orchestra and she teaches Suziki style lessons through the Portland Conservatory of Music.
More than fifty years ago, Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki realized the implications of the fact that children the world over learn to speak their native language with ease. He began to apply the basic principles of language acquisition to the learning of music, and called his method the mother-tongue approach (now known as Suzuki method). The ideas of parent responsibility, loving encouragement, constant repetition, etc., are some of the special features of the Suzuki approach. (Suzuki Association of America)
With the Suzuki method, you don't learn how to read music right away. Instead you begin by learning by ear, just as you learn how to talk before you learn how to read.
Mattimeo has been flourishing with this method. It is incredible how far he has come in 6 short months. Already he has learned many different types of rhythms, has improved coordination and strength in his fingers, has grown more disciplined and focused, and has developed a greater appreciation of music. Both he and Link can often be heard humming classical tunes as they go about their day to day activities.
Meo has to practice almost everyday. That is quite the commitment! But so far he practices willingly. There are some days he prefers to do short lessons. There are some days he gets really into figuring out a song and will work at it for a long time. But even on days that he would rather be playing, he's willing to take a little bit of a break from play to take out his violin.
You can get a little taste of his progression in these videos and photos:
clapping out rhythms
Playing with his eyes closed to hear himself better
Practicing for his solo
Today, Mattimeo had his first recital. He had a little solo and also played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with Miss Dee-Dee's other students at the end.
All of my parents were able to make it to listen to Meo and his peers play, which was really encouraging to Meo. He was so happy to have their love and support. Robbie's mom is still recovering from a major surgery so they couldn't come, but we know they are proud of him too!
waiting to have his violin tuned
We didn't realize that the recital would go on for about three hours. This is quite a long time for a two year old. Robbie did his best to entertain Link. He listened to some of the music, and played games some of the time too. After about 2 hours though they had to go outside and wait because Link was getting too fidgety.
I sat with Meo in the front so he could get on stage easily and focus on the concert.
When it was his turn, I think I was more nervous than he was! I was so proud of him that I cried a little. He was so happy and proud. At one point he made a little mistake, frowned, and picked up right where he left off. He had such a great attitude, and was so brave and full of smiles.
And here is Twinkle. Meo can play all these variations, but his fingers aren't quite fast enough to keep up with the big kids yet so for the recital he just played harmony.
Very proud Grandmothers!
A proud Papa
At the end of the recital, Pepere gave the boys some money for ice cream, so we headed over to our favorite ice cream spot to celebrate!
We are glad Meo is doing so well with violin and that he enjoys it so much. Hopefully we can help nurture that love and enthusiasm so that he continues to grown and flourish as a musician.
