J.S. Bach had 20 children. (I already knew that). However, 10 of the children died as infants, preschoolers and children, and another one reached adulthood but was mentally handicapped. That speaks of a lot of sorrow, heartbreak, and a lot of perseverance. It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it. I know that lots of families throughout history have had a similar tale, but when you really think about it, living through that had to be incredibly difficult. I did a lot of reading about J.S. Bach this month, and I left with so many questions about his “behind the scenes” life. I’d love to be a mouse in the corner of his house for a day or two.
My bass clarinet skills improved greatly this month. A few years ago my grandmother gave our family a very, very generous Christmas gift, and since we didn’t need anything in particular at that time, and since I really, really wanted a good bass clarinet, I splurged. Then I had more kids, and no firm deadlines about really needing to know how to play the bass clarinet, so it spent a lot of time sitting in its case. I’d take it out every once in a while, and could play moderately well, but I wasn’t playing consistently. Near the end of March I looked at the case, and thought about how ridiculous it was that I have a good instrument sitting around in a case, and while I make sure that my kids practice their instruments every day, I don’t actually take time to play myself. (The piano gets practiced often, but there is something about the clarinet and the bass clarinet, and some of my other instruments that makes it difficult to be motivated to practice unless I have a specific goal in mind, a certain deadline to meet). So, for the month of April my goal was to practice the bass clarinet as much as YaYa practiced the oboe. The change was astounding.
A good bass clarinet mouthpiece can solve a slough of problems. i was having so much trouble with the clarion range, but after getting a new (and unfortunately expensive) special mouthpiece, I sound about 100 times better.
Cold weather makes a bass clarinet finicky. Specifically, sometimes keys don’t work until the instrument warms back up.
I learned I really do love the bass clarinet.
I learned about the instrument called a gamba, a predecessor to the modern violin which was played on the knee like a cello.
Starting to play violin with the song “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” really, really makes sense! Although The Banana’s violin teacher uses a combination of pedagogical philosophies, I actually really can see the wisdom in Suzuki’s approach to playing a stringed instrument. To me, It makes so much more sense on the violin than on the piano. That isn’t a criticism for Suzuki piano either, it’s just that I know it works great for some piano families, and is a complete catastrophe for others.
Getting together with a group of moms to have dinner once a month is turning out to be a huge blessing. After watching the webcast of the If Gathering last February, a group of us began getting together for IF Table dinners each month. So far we’ve met twice, but amazing conversations have taken place, and these other moms have made a big impact on me already. Doing something social, something without a clear purpose, something where I’m not teaching or working or learning, can be a risky thing for me sometimes, and I often end up isolating myself because I just don’t want to deal with social stress. It turns out, I don’t think I’m the only mom my age who is feeling a bit isolated these days. Risks can be good.
When library books are missing, the first (not last) place I should look is behind and underneath the bunk beds in both of the kid-rooms. Even though we have done everything possible to prevent things from getting back there, including modifying the bunk beds with plywood so people can’t stash things in the crevices, collections of library books, which technically don’t belong in beds to start with, seem to continually make their way into the black hole of refuse and doom.
oh Rachel, I am so excited for you! How neat that you get together with those other moms. That is fantastic! I don”t know what I would have done without the group of moms I had when my kids were young. Your little note made me think back in time. Do you know we are all still friends today, even though we have all moved on in life.
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One Comment
Gramma Kathy
oh Rachel, I am so excited for you! How neat that you get together with those other moms. That is fantastic! I don”t know what I would have done without the group of moms I had when my kids were young. Your little note made me think back in time. Do you know we are all still friends today, even though we have all moved on in life.