Group Lessons

Today was Sadie's first group lesson for violin. Her teacher has told us that she thinks she is ready so we decided to check it out this morning. I have asked several times if we are making progress because lets just say...it has been hard for me to tell, but she assures me we are and that it will come together. She will practice every other Saturday with her class and have a recital in December. If I am understanding it all right. So here's how the lesson went...

We went in and Sadie went up with the other kids. She is the youngest in the group. There is a 4 year old boy and the rest of the group look like they are Kindergarten and up. I'm sharing that because it became clear pretty quickly that Sadie is 1-very social and 2-hasn't been in school yet to learn all of the norms of "group class." Anyway, the teacher is talking about taking a bow after her get done playing and asks if anyone knows what we say when we take a bow. Sadie's teacher has taught her to say "Purple Hippopatomus" and then come back up. Sadie says, "I know" and shares her answer. The teacher is then going around to each student and asks them what they want to say. The teacher then says, "Does anyone want to say anything else?"(referring to anything you want to say while you bow.) Sadie raises her hand and the teacher calls on her. She says, "Well, My mama and daddy, they took me to Sea World." A few chuckles from the other parents and the teacher says, "Oh, I bet that was a lot of fun." I just smile. Sadie turns to look at us and waves. So the kids get their violins out and the teacher is teaching them the rest position and how to hold the bow. The little girl standing next to Sadie is very cute and has beautiful long brown hair. Sadie takes her bow and begins "brushing" the girls hair. I'm thinking to myself that we will definitely be talking about group lesson "expectations" before the next class. (Can you tell I've been teaching expecations all week.) We had a lot of parents ask, "How old is she?" and give us that, "She's so cute" look admist the turning around and waving and, "I have to go potty(s)." I know that is only going to be cute for a little while.
We have laughed a lot today as we've talked about it. The recital should be interesting...