Sharrin's Playing 1

In Suzuki, vol.1

Errin's playing 1

In Suzuki, vol.1

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Sean, 'Beatles, Michelle'

Sean loves playing some popular songs like a singer on the piano.

His sounds of Michelle and Star Words are more and more getting better while he keeps

working on them.

Michelle by Beatles

Theme of Star Wars

Trios on Christmas songs

Finally, Sean, Harry, and I did piano trios!

Deck the Halls

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Harry, 'Weber, Hunters' Chorus'

Harry is not having his cello lesson recently because Dana (cello teacher) was out of town just as soon as this winter break began. Nevertheless, he has kept practicing the new piece, Hunters' Chorus by Weber by himself.

Harry tried to play with my piano when his sound got better.

I really like to play the piano for Harry's cello even though Harry doesn't like that much.... :-|

Harry, Handel, Judas Maccabaeus

Judas Maccabaeus by Handel was Harry's final piece that he worked with Dana, his cello teacher. Harry played this for his jury at the end of the last term in String Project of UT. After the jury, he didn't practice it, but still remember and like it.

Jeongyeon, 'Czerny, op.139, no.13'

One of my pupils, Jeongyeon, has been learning One Hundred Progressive Studies, op.139 by Czerny since coming to me two months ago.

This clip is no.13. She is playing on even beats, good relaxations, and enough breaths.

She is a hard worker and loves music.

'Deck The Halls'

Harry, Sean, and I had practiced Deck The Halls when Christmas was just around the corner.

Harry had been supposed to play the melody, but he didn't join us for this clip. He went to his bed early, as expecting the present from Santa Claus. :-(

So, Sean and I played together without Harry's cello. I suddenly had to take the melody line.

Sean's piano was so nice (Look! how his body is following the flow of the music), the sound of my viola was squeaking due to the high position, though.

Teaching chords and 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'

On the night of Christmas eve, Sean and I tried to do some ensembles with Christmas songs.

Before playing the song of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Sean needed a quick time learning on the chords.

Then, we played the song together.

How nice it is, playing my viola with Sean's piano!

We did it just after one time rehearsal...  Sean seems to have a quite good sense to accompany.

Although the pitch of my viola did not perfectly match the piano because I couldn't get the time for tunning, the music feels so good.

Messing up Bach

Sean was improvising(!) when he forgot the last part of Bach.... :-)

Sean's playing, 'Bach, Minuet in G'

It's been a quite long since Sean had learned Bach, Minuet in G. He, however, still keep playing that piece. Now that certainly became his one of repertoires.

His Bach without the video camera is even better than this playing...

My new viola

I finally bought a new viola a couple of weeks ago at the Blackerby Violin Shop in Austin.
It was really another special day in my life.
I had used my violin, on which my previous violin teacher had adjusted viola strings, for learning viola about for two years. So, I had hoped to get a new viola, as planning to take the individual instruction class for viola in the next semester.

After trying several violas, I knew there is no other choice except for purchasing far more expensive one than I had expected. I had brought $500 with me, thinking of one between $200 and $300. The cheapest one in the shop was, however, $550. (The first one I had tried was more than $2,000!) Additionally, when I had tried the bow about which the clerk, who was assisting me, had said it is to enter for the professional level and able to use almost forever I was crazy about to get it, though the price, $299.

The size of my viola, produced by ‘Samuel Eastman,’ is '15'. My full size violin is '14' as a viola according to the clerk in the shop. So, my viola (the right on the photo) looks slightly bigger than my violin (the left on the photo).

Meanwhile, there were some options to pay for my purchases. One of the options was that I rent the viola ($550) with only $30 a month, as accumulating $15 credit every month. The credit is reflected to the cost when I buy it. The other option was that I pay half of the cost at first, and then the rest of it with the three times for three months evenly. I had chosen the second option for paying my viola and bow. In other words, I had handed the money, $500, to the shop for just half of the cost.

Also, I replaced the viola strings into ‘Zyex’. I learned that ‘Dominant’ is not the best strings for the violin and viola. Choosing the brand of the string on string instruments, first of all, depends on individual tastes rather than the brand and second of all, the kind of the strings, such as C, G, D, and A, for the viola or G, D, A, and E, for the violin. Although I could not remember all about the best fixing order for the instruments, I know that getting a sense to the favorite sound of the strings is more important to choose the brand of the strings, and the strings should be replaced every year for the best condition.

At any rate, I have been happily practicing the violin and the viola independently since then. I am working on Suzuki vol.3 for both instruments along with some scales on the viola, as dreaming to join in the orchestra or the string ensemble one day... :-)

Facing bad grades of kids

What should moms do when their kids got a bad grade like less than B- or C? I really hope to be a reasonable mom to my kids even in front of their work sheets with 70 something grades. Nevertheless, the hope mostly turns out as a daydream. In the reality, my son’s horrible grade makes the volume of my voice increase and the never ending nagging continue toward my son, whose eyes are bursting with tears.

Today was a very day. Wednesday is the day, having the massed pile of Harry and Sean’s school stuffs. I have to check out and organize lots of sheets from their school once a week on the day. The sheets include class work sheets, on which their teachers put the grade for each work, as well as various notice sheets about school events and donations. So, I often used to be overwhelmed by the big paper pile brought with my kids on Wednesday.

Here is the today’s story. Although having expected to get the stressful school sheets, I took my sons to the swimming pool in order to give them fun under the sun of fall, which is still hot before setting. They screamed out of excitement and dove into the chilly water despite getting goose bumps. After a number of the thunder laughing, we got back home to find Harry’s bad grades on his class work sheets.

There certainly were good grades, but also I had to find lots of B-s and Cs. I thought it seems the time that Harry has to have an extra study at home on his vocabulary and language art, based on the horrible grade related to long reading topics and lots of words incorrectly spelled. However, my hot temper directly exploded when I just encountered Harry’s frown face in the negative response.

In fact, my family speaks Korean at home. Therefore, it is not surprising that my sons’ English vocabulary and comprehension levels are a little lower than the average of American of the same age. My sons might need a specific education to catch up with their friends.

Anyway, now regretting my bad action against Harry’s natural behavior as a young boy, who wants not to lose his everyday playing time because of the stupid extra home study, I am thinking I should have suggested more gently for him to do his everyday extra home study from tomorrow (of course I’m still doubt that it is possible…).

The question is how parents make their children understand and realize to do their study by themselves at the moment it needs. Above all, I know it is meaningless that children do not study by themselves but by their parents. So, I should keep retrieving that the most important thing is encouraging and leading my son to spontaneously have interest and confidence in his study, by asking his feeling and opinion, and discussing about the best way.

Life goes on

It's been over one month since we had a terrible car accident.
My family, fortunately, all have been well recovering and getting a smile on our face again.
We never did anything wrong for the accident that was a head on collision on our lane by a drunken driver who crossed over the yellow lane with her pick-up truck.
Sometimes it's still hard to believe what had happened to us, though, I'm trying to think that how we recover as fast as we can and get back to our happy life.
If I had died in the accident I couldn't have written this.
Because life goes on regardless the accident, only thing we have to do is enjoying every moment when we are alive.

A new blog for my best friend, Jeongeun

I has been surprised the fact that I could creat a new blog for my friend by myself. I've never thought that I can do it before. Even mine was built by my hubby, not me. But now I can do that! Creating a blog and simple uploading a post and picture through "gmail.com" was not difficult.

Jungeun is my best friend who met in America. It's been nearly three years since we knew each other. There were several factors that we could become intimate though the first meeting was in chance. We had lived in the same apartment, Timber Creek, College Station, in which her and our family had settled first time in America with lot of luggages from Korea. Jungeun and I are "not religious people", even though having Buddhist mothers, and our most interesting thing is how improving and enjoying English. Additionally we love music, painting, and house decorating.

I'm so glad to help her to get a English blog in the same palce with me, and hope that she will elaborate her "Clazzic World" beautifully with special pictures and her stories.

I'm improving...

I changed my English blog in order to use it easier. Because jotting down someting is one of my favorite hobbies I've managed a board in my family homepage in Korean for last several years. However, this is the first time to possess my personal English blog (I'm so happy now!). This blog satisfies me in the simple design and the colors of green.

I would like to draw my thoughts about education and music along with recording the living story of my family on this blog. I hope to improve technichal skills for managing the blog (even though my hubby keeps saying "using this blog is extreamly easy!") as well as my writing skill, while filling this site...

Eating three times a day with my little guys

Since this summer break started I’ve been hanging out with my two guys. We usually get up late, it makes our day so horrible. Most of all, it’s because of that our three times of meal should be kept though we have breakfast around 11 o’clock. 3 o’clock lunch and 7 o’clock dinner. What a day for eating! That means I have to cook every 4 hours. Actually it is not even every 4 hours but more than that. For eating and cleaning the table and stuffs it takes nearly one and half hour. Hew~. I’m seriously thinking now there really needs something to slove this crazy daily schedule. What’s the key? Maybe getting up early would be one of them, but it is not easy and simple as much as the word.

Memory of night reading time

When Harry and Sean were very young we used to read some books together in the bed until they were asleep. At the time, saying "go to bed!" was exactly the same as "bring some books to read with me, guys." It made me away from the 9 o'clock night news for many years after giving a birth, and I usually felt asleep with them as ruining my plan that had some time to do something for me after making them sleep. Nevertheless, the memory of reading time with my babies is one of the sweeties things to me in the early parenting.

As my kids are growing, the time, in which we read and talk together on the book, has been more and more decreasing. Especially Harry, big one, doesn't want to read a book together any more since one day. Sean, fortunately, still loves that mom or dad reads a book to him, so he urges it to us every night before getting sleep on momma's bed. I promised myself to get the reading time back for this summer break.

Occasionally we check out colorful books, which include not only paper books but picture books, from public libraries nearby. Various picture books for children are still good reading stuffs. They are so special to convey cozy, warm, impressive, fun, and creative feelings to kids. While my kids choose their paper books or comic books, I search those kind of picture books which tell stories that I want to share with Harry and Sean, that are difficult to talk in a busy, daily routine.

Now Harry is 10 and Sean is 8, and both are quite good readers. They might not need anyone to read books for them, but I belive that reading a book with kids will make us happier and give special moments that we treasure in our whole life.