Hyla – Page 9 – Grongar

The end of some things

This year’s end-of-year violin recital marked more than the end of another year of violin lessons and recitals; it was also the last recital directed by the teacher that Hyla’s been studying with for the past four years. Colleen, has been commuting to our area from Western Massachusetts for the last two years to teach two days a week and has decided she’s had enough of that (who could blame her?).

So this year’s recital was a bit different from the past three: a bit more subdued, a bit more relaxed (Colleen called it an “Open House” rather than a recital), and just a bit bittersweet for us, knowing that this might be the last time this particular group of kids would be playing together. Continue reading “The end of some things”

Reaping her reward

On the last day of school each year at Open Fields School, the tradition is that families gather at 11 am for a picnic, followed by a quick award ceremony, followed by the briefest of graduation ceremonies (if there are 6th graders that year), followed by playing in the fields behind the school. And then school is out by 1 pm.

The favorite after-graduation game is called “Aquarian Gladiator” — a game that involves running across the field with paper cups full of ice cold water, trying to drench your friends, parents and teachers. This game is so special it’s rarely played on any other day of the school year, saved in reserve for the typically warm, sunny day that the last day of school deserves.

Unfortunately, this year, there were no 6th graders. And it was rainy. So, for the first time in the five years that Hyla’s attended OFS, the picnic was inside and there was no graduation ceremony and no Aquarian Gladiator. But we did get the award ceremony. Continue reading “Reaping her reward”

Avulsion

We learned a new phrase yesterday: avulsion fracture. That’s what Hyla’s got, at the bottom of her otherwise perfect right fibula.

Continue reading “Avulsion”

It’s a rain forest in there

Hyla’s school has transformed itself (temporarily, I think) into a rain forest, just in time for the school’s annual Open House. Last Friday, I got an official, pre-curtain tour. Now you get one, too.

Hyla and her classmates were anxious to show everyone around:

The kids made several large trees out of cardboard, paper, duct tape, etc., and then everyone was encouraged to bring in toy versions of animals that you might find in a rain forest. In this habitat, we find several lemurs, a monkey, a frog, a bush baby, a rather large lizard, equally large scorpions and spiders, and a snake or two.

The next room is strung with “vines”, from which a frightening spider is dangling. Beyond the spider, you can see trees, and more trees, and more trees. The forest is limitless.

In this region, we also find shockingly large ants. I am told there was a proportionally sized anteater made to go with them, but he is missing. This is a somewhat terrifying thought. If he’s not in the school, where has he gone?

Upstairs, we duck behind a torrential waterfall

to find this previously undiscovered species, perching on a small bush:

And around the corner, in the reading nook, we find this mighty jungle cat, snoozing on his favorite books:

The rain forest will be on exhibit now through the next couple of weeks. Catch it if you’re in town.

Practicing persistence

Since last Fall, Hyla has been working on “Musette” by J.S. Bach. I think she started it in October. Like most people I know, she doesn’t really enjoy practicing. She does it because we tell her to do it, and because she likes the violin, and because she loves performing and she’s not going to get to play at a recital unless she practices. There are probably several other reasons she practices (maybe to please us?), but she doesn’t tell us those reasons.

“Musette” was a tough piece for her on several counts. First, the tune didn’t come easily to her (and it was hard to remember). The piece also has lots of notes that you have to play in the non-standard position – these are things that a beginning violinist can’t see just by looking at the page of music: you have to learn (or hear) the right position and remember it. No cheating. It makes for hard work. And she put the work in.

She hasn’t enjoyed it much, but she’s been persistent.

I’ve always wanted to believe that “practice makes perfect”, and I do believe that practicing something makes it easier to do the thing, but I’m also learning that sometimes practicing just teaches you to persist, to keep at something, even when you’re not getting the results you want. Even when you’re performing this dang piece after months of practicing and the accompanist has never played it before that day and you are still inexperienced at performing (heck, you’re only 9 years old!).

At this recital, Hyla reminded me of an important thing. Persistence pays off not just because you might get better at the thing you’re working on, but because you see the thing through. You just keep playing even when you lose the thread, and lo and behold, sometimes you find the thread again.

Great job, Hyla!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ax5hTsIfQ]

Open Fields Holiday Program, the 2008 edition

At last (I know you’ve been wondering), here’s a video of the holiday performance at Hyla’s school last Friday.

I took this video with Hyla’s nifty little video camera just to test it out and I’m not really happy with the quality of the video, but I think that’s my fault because I used the wrong setting and then wasn’t sure how to fix it later or import it onto my computer correctly. Anyway, I think you can still make out Hyla’s HUGE grin while she’s playing “Good King Wenceslas” (did I spell that right?!).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4alA77K3ybg]

Halloween happiness

We had a happy little Halloween here. Since it was on a Friday this year, my sister came up for a visit and so we all went trick-or-treating together.

Once again, Hyla seemed content to go with her posse of grownups and puppy, though one of these days she’s going to ask to go with friends. And one of these days, she’s going to ask to go ALONE with friends. Now, that’s a scary Halloween thought.

Can you tell what breed of cat she’s dressed as? I’ll give you ONE guess.

Earlier in the week, we carved our pumpkins. For the first time, Hyla did the entire design and carving of her pumpkin on her own, with no assistance except for cutting the top off so she could get at the pumpkin guts. We listened to our scary sound effects CD, courtesy of Martha Stewart (no really; I’m not being sarcastic), and each carved so the others couldn’t see what we were doing. Then we took them out to the deck, turned them backwards, lit them, and then turned to reveal the

ooooh….SCARY!!

um….goofy?!

and the unbelievably ADORABLY askew! (please note scar/stiches on side of face – how cute is that??!)

Nine!

I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair!

Last Friday was Hyla’s last day at Horizons camp for the summer. As in the previous session, Hyla chose to be in the snippet of a musical they produce for the last day of the session. These little shows are kind of amazing in that kids find out the play and their parts on Monday, and by Friday they have learned their lines, songs, dances (and their parents have thrown together costumes!).

Here’s our girl playing the “lead nurse” in South Pacific: