BLYAP Day 3

It is Wednesday morning and we are at Maya's practice room in the Administration Building at Ottawa University.  At 8:15 she is practicing technical studies, Dvorak's Sonatina, Zapateado (Sarasate), and Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Caprisccioso.  These are most of the pieces she will be playing at some point today.

 Here is a pic of the white board in Maya's practice room.  On it we have constructed a schedule for this week.  The "P" stands for PRACTICE, not play.

On Monday evening Mr. Lewis gave a lecture about "organized practicing".  One key element he recommended was to actually write out a plan for the practice including exactly what studies and pieces will be practiced and for how long.  Here is Maya sitting on the campus lawn outside the Admin Building writing up her plan for the next hour.











Yesterday she had a master class with Mr. Lewis during which they continue to polish the 3rd movement of Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1.  It is coming along nicely.

Her collaborative pianist is Pamela Pyle.






Also yesterday she had a nice hour with Ayako Yonetani working on Bach solo's.  Here's a shot of the two of them discussing a trill or something like that.

I must say that Maya has been working hard with great diligence and stamina.  I think if she can do this kind of "work" she will be able to accomplish anything she wants in life.








Jamuna also had a day full of violin work yesterday including a Skype lesson with Ms. Nicolette, a lesson with Ms. Amanda, and a special hour lesson with Ms. Schnittgrund to practice for All-State Orchestra.  Abe's day was filled with tennis and swimming.  I'm sure he practiced viola somewhere in there.

Here is a side story.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it earlier but on our drive through Nebraska a few days ago we were greeted by a nice flying rock which left a small chip in the windshield of our new car.  I only cried (out loud) for about two hours.  Thankfully the chip is small and on the edge of the glass.  I worried about how I was going to find the time to get this repaired in light of being out of town and on the road continuously until the end of August.  I made a few calls and believe it or not a man from Safelite Auto Glass arrived in the parking lot of OU and repaired the damage in about 30 minutes.  It was all covered by a windshield glass policy I bought when I picked up the car.  The chip still might extend beyond it's current area which would mean the entire windshield will need to be replaced.  Let's hope not.

Today we start the 2-day cycle of classes over again.  This is only the third day yet is seems like we've been at this for a week.  Maybe it feels that way since we were here for Sound Encounters just a couple of weeks ago.