Evelyn was invited by a good friend of mine to be in a piano recital. She's a teacher and holds a small recital for all her students. When she found out I was teaching Evelyn on my own she said she would love if Evelyn played with her students. When I asked Evelyn what she thought she got sooooooo excited. I love when Evelyn gets excited about something. Even as a baby she was so expressive, she wears her emotions on her sleeve, her body barely able to contain what she's feeling. So, we picked a Christmas song, Carol of the Bells and went to work. It is 2 levels above where she's at so I was a bit worried about her being able to play it but she was determined that was the song she wanted to do.
She did fantastic tonight. I know I'm biased but when a couple of 13 year-old boys rank her as second best of the night (there was a 10 year-old girl who played beautifully) I know she really did do well. There were about 12 students playing and she was probably the 3 youngest. I was so proud of her.
Another thing (of many) I love about Evelyn is her smile. She smiles the whole time she's going something she loves. And it's not just a little closed mouth half-smile, it's a full-open-mouth-toothy grin (or in her case, toothless). She smiled the whole night, she was beaming.
If I can get better at being consistent with her practicing I think she has some real piano talent. I'm learning with her that she's better to have 3 or 4 ten minute practice sessions through the day rather than a 30-40 minute sit down. At this stage though she wants me sitting beside her the whole time to help her out. But where I am, Lucienne is, and she's not the most helpful when my attention is on someone other than her.
She loves playing and I hope we can keep that love alive. It's hard to know how much to push and when to back-off. Some days she really doesn't want to practice but I know it's the only way she's going to get better. And as she gets better I think she'll love it even more.
Where did I put that Evelyn Instruction Manual?
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