The André Rieu obsession in the ‘Lollipop’ household continues unabated. I won’t tell you how many DVDs and CDs we have now, but it’s more than a few. Sausage is the worst affected. She has plastered her bedroom walls with photos of André. She even has a story that she wrote about him tacked up there. It begins ‘André is really cool’ and ends ‘I want a violin’. I had thought that last idea might fade after Christmas, but no, she needs a violin.
Her love of André is so well known around the place that the Town Librarian told me the other day that because Sausage had told her that the library should have some of his DVDs, they had finally ordered André’s 100 Greatest Moments and it is reserved for Sausage as soon as it arrives!
I must admit, I did toy with the idea of buying a violin for her at Christmas. The local music shop was all ready to sell me a ‘cheap’ one. Then I phoned my sister. Her younger daughter is studying viola at university and teaches violin (unfortunately too far away to help Sausage). She was aghast at the idea of a ‘cheap’ violin - worse than no violin at all, she said. She added that she had a half-size and three-quarter size violin sitting in her cupboard (not cheap ones) that Sausage is welcome to - as soon as she's the right size. Unfortunately, that’s not yet. Even a quarter size would probably still be too big.
I also spoke to the piano teacher who has Sausage booked down for lessons next year (both boys have had lessons with her). She advised letting her do piano for a year just to get a ‘grounding’ in music. I’m inclined to agree. But there’s going to be a lot more of the ‘When can I have a violin?’ before then.
Yesterday, Dynamo and Sausage were talking as I made dinner. Dynamo, in his usual determined way said, “I’m going to be a farmer when I leave school and you can help me.”
Sausage looked at him in dismay. “I don’t want to be a farmer. I want to be a violinist.”
Dynamo frowned a bit. He likes to think everyone will go along with his plans. Then his face brightened and he nodded. “Okay. You can be a violinist. But you have to be as good as André and do big concerts and earn millions of dollars. Then you can give it all to me and I can run the farm.”
Sausage shrugged. ‘Okay.’
He’ll go far, that boy!
6 comments:
I always wanted to play the violin too, but have you heard what beginners sound like?
Hehe, nice.
It's great when kids have such passions, and as a parent, you can wonder and fantasize about what they will do with it (and as a brother too, it seems).
LOL Ian. But we live on a farm. If it's too bad, I can send her to practise in the barn. We might scare a few rats away that way too!
Luc, it would be good if these passions did turn into something, instead of dying as soon as they get what they want. But Dynamo will keep her on track for his millions!
Awwww...very cute! I grew up on a very small farm. Although I still live in the country my secret fantassy is to live on another farm again and live off the land. My cop DH has other ideas though. I tell him he could shoot at the coyotes that go after the chickens....
Warm Regards,
Melanie
We all play instruments around here. My mother and sister are violinists. My brother and I play the cello.
You could always get/make her something to approximate a violin. My grandfather made a little toy violin out of wood for my mother when she was about 4 or 5 years old. It really helped her learn to hold the instrument properly, which is tricky with violins.
I am so tone deaf that I can't even carry music sheets without dropping them...grin...
Taking what "Lily Cate" said about making her a violin...Jim Brickman plays the piano and he tells a story during his concert that he wanted a piano but his parents thought he would grow out of it, so they didn't want to buy him one...instead his father made him a 'keyboard' out of felt and they told him if he practiced on that and still wanted a piano in a year (I think it was a year) that they would get him one...he says he took that piece of felt out every day and 'played' it...finally his parents bought him a piano and look at him now...grin...
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