Piano Impatience

Often when it's time to practice piano, Gabriella will get bored with the selection and make up something of her own.  Twice her own pieces were performed at her recital.  They always start out simple, and I find them inspiring.  We may have to add lyrics to this one.  Hmmm......

Writing in the Rain

         For me, and many I know, writing has always been a healthy catharsis to cope with whatever stresses come in life.  Of course we want this for our artistic kids right?  We want her to start now with a healthy way of expressing her thoughts and feelings when they may not be so easy to vocalize.  (Fingers crossed that when the teenage years hit this will help ease the pain for us all...)

         We all know that writing needs inspiration.   What better inspiration than a rainy spring day.   Here in a house full of windows to watch it drizzle sometimes and then pour while the birds scatter from raindrops and thunder.  Here inside where the music echoes throughout and there are so many nooks and crannies to discover.

        So her assignment was - write.  Fact or fiction.  Just write about this rainy day.  Of course that is daunting when you are eight, so after getting the story started on a topic she loves, Arrietty of the Borrowers.  I thought this would be the ticket.  She seemed so excited about writing this since I know she loves the book and is excited about going to see the Studio Ghibli film.   Still, she gets frustrated.  Lightbulb!  'Why don't you go and hide anywhere in the house?!  Don't tell me where you are, you just have to be INSIDE and write for the next 15 minutes.'  Excitement ensued!  I had a winner!  Three minutes later she returns with again, writers frustration.  She likes no hiding space and fears the page, but she is showing it with irritation at the project as a whole.

      So I have resorted to the most unartistic thing I can think of.  Forcing her to sit at a desk with no music and just write ANYTHING for the next 15 minutes.  This is what she came up with....

From the Fridge - Part One

From the Fridge is going to be a new part of my blog.  Once in a while I will show you something old or new that is featured for various reasons.  I got this idea, because visitors to our home often languish here.  There is rarely empty space and the things that fill it make us happy. :)  It's just a peek at a time.  Feel free to play  'Where's Waldo' for photos of Jermaine......  

These pieces are appropriate to share this week since they are directly related to Gabriella's children's lecture on Klimt.  She seldom likes to 'color' as in coloring in someone else's work (not even coloring books when she was really little) but these were a part of the Met for the Kids and memorable - so they made the cut.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Above - Gabriella is front and center for a children's lecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, our absolute favorite place to visit.  There is always something you haven't seen, or haven't seen enough. Here they learned about Gustav Klimt and his use of color and symbolism. 

Below - After the lecture, she was drawn to the little red-headed girl who loved Degas.  Together they sprawled across the floor of one of the world's largest art museums and drew like kids do.

Love - Warhol Style  <3 <3 <3

Late Nights

Sent: Jan 27, 2012 12:37 AM

Late night creations... We have a habit of going with our creativity when it flows.  Right about now Mom and Dad are deep into projects, so when little one can't sleep, she starts a project too.

Musical Meltdown

     We all know that music is art.  This house is never quiet.  Even while doing school activities Gabriella will listen to Daft Punk, Flaming Lips, Erik Satie, then - sigh- Justin Bieber.  As long as there is music flowing in our home, it feels like home.
 
     As a parent I see the benefits in the lives of adults have who have developed their musical talent.  Education with music creates a balance and really does benefit in the matter of mathematics.  It may sound like voodoo, but we've seen a difference in her mathematical understanding since she has taken up piano.  We fully intend for her to continue to learn an instrument - any instrument she wants - throughout her education.

     So when she was four-years-old she walked up to a septuagenarian on a piano and stood next to her as she played.  The kind lady stopped, smiled and told Gabriella that she began to learn piano when she was four-years-old.  Gabriella just looked in awe and asked to touch the piano.  Since then she's been learning and creating little pieces like the eerie one she played today called "Dark Night." Obviously, I want to encourage this love.  The challenge I'm finding is not pushing it.  I don't want to make her snap and suddenly hate lessons like so many others do.  Like I  did as a teenager.

     Yesterday came close.  She had a typical young girl meltdown over something completely unrelated right at the time for her piano lessons.  We ended up having an emotional heart to heart in the car about how the one issue was not related to the other.  It was heartbreaking to look in those big eyes welled with tears as she said, "You promised if it wasn't fun anymore I wouldn't have to do it.  And it's not fun."  Talk about drama.  I promised her she could switch to another instrument if she likes (she's had an inkling toward drums, and that would be so cool) but we soon realized that it wasn't really about the piano at all.  She was upset about something else entirely and associating it with piano because of the timing.  Yikes.  Crisis averted this time, but I'm looking for new ways to excite her about music.  Not just to listen, but to play!