As Alan wraps up his first year learning the violin, he wanted to record a brief video of him playing the violin to demonstrate the progress he’s made in the past year.
Category Archives: Violin
Fall Weekends
Alan’s weekends this fall go something like the following: Friday night hangouts with Daddy, followed by Saturday lessons and Sunday fun.
On Fridays we’re likely to play one of our board games together (Sorry!, Mouse Trap) and arrange baseball bats by match-ups. Saturday lessons kick off with swimming at Hawken and are followed by piano and violin lessons back-to-back at the Music Settlement. On Saturday nights, Alan heads to Grandma Debbie’s to see his cousins and sleepover at Grandma Debbie’s house!
Sundays involve taking Tata to Giant Eagle for shopping and then stopping by the apartment to have lunch and play. We also usually play baseball or tennis too. Occasionally we stop by the Wildcat Fitness Center as well.
There’s not too much schoolwork to do on weekends this fall. Alan does do practice math problems though. And we participated in Millridge’s Read-a-thon for the first time! Alan logged 480 minutes while reading 22 books this month.
Birthday Party for Alan & Tyler
Alan and Tyler celebrated their 8th and 7th birthdays at a family party today at Grandma Debbie’s house! The party was at the same time as the Browns’ season opener, so Alan and I were dressed accordingly.
Alan was in charge of setting up the candles on the boys’ vanilla cake. When the boys blew out the candles, Alan took the top row and Tyler took the bottom row.
Alan got a lot of great gifts, including the one he really wanted! It’s almost as if people knew he really likes Legos.
As always, Alan was so glad to have his cousins there! He was also very proud to show off his new violin, after having his very first lesson yesterday. He showed it off to the whole family.
Piano Recital
Alan once again excelled at his end-of-year piano recital at the Music Settlement this afternoon. With his parents and both sets of grandparents in the audience, he brought the house down with his rendition of “Little Playmates.”
Following the performance, we stayed for a picnic as well. Alan was presented with his “100 Days” trophy, which he earned by practicing for 100 consecutive days!
6/5/18 Update: Alan performed a duet of “Honeybee” at Cleveland State tonight with his Tuesday night Suzuki [method] partner, George. On Tuesdays this year at the Music Settlement, Alan partnered with other kids to learn music collaboratively. In addition to practicing the piano, Alan was able to watch kids play other instruments, which has led to Alan’s new interest in learning how to play the violin.