Wednesday, September 13, 2006

A Day in the Life of Music

It's eight-twenty-two in the morning. I grab Joshua's Suzuki violin materials and stuff them in a gigantic red tote bag which I got at the hospital when Charlie came home. Violin, notebook, CD, check. Carpet square with the outline of Joshua's feet so he knows where to stand, check. Rocketship finger puppet to be placed on the tip of his bow, check. Amusing cuddly playthings for Charlie, big quilt for him to lie down and drool upon, check. Big red tote bag, diaper bag, purse, preschooler, and infant in carseat all get loaded into the car. Eight twenty-five now. Backing out of the driveway, Joshua throws a fit because he wants his teddy-bear Honkees to ride with us. Run in, get Honkees, drive to violin lesson which is mercifully on the same end of town. We are on-time people, so we manage to pull up right at eight-thirty. Thirty minute violin lesson, during which we play with dinosaurs, sing a song about monkeys, do a dance while Joshua holds the violin under his chin, and Charlie spits up on my shirt. Lesson is over, Honkees stayed in the car the whole time.

My house is a mess, so I do the minimum amount of work necessary to not feel embarrased when the afternoon babysitter comes over. The morning passes quickly as we play. At one point Joshua convinces me to put in a movie for him, so I let him watch half an hour of Winnie The Pooh while I take Charlie upstairs to the music room to do a bit of work. Charlie lays on his blanket and giggles at me while I play a few warm-ups on flute. He seems to delight in listening to Bach, so I play a few movements of a sonata for him, making silly faces during the rests so he will let me finish. I tell Josh he has to turn off the movie, and he thankfully obliges but insists on taking off his pants for some reason. He comes up to the music room, pulls out an old clarinet and pretends to play a duet with me. I settle for this practice time, with my older son dancing around in his underwear playing on a half-put-together clarinet, and my younger son amusing himself thoughtfully with my toes. When I realize that Charlie is actually trying to nurse on my foot, I know my luck has run out and I give up.

After lunch and naps, Joshua decides five minutes before the babysitter is coming over that he would like to practice his violin. His teacher wants him to place the instrument under his chin ten times each day. We use one of Charlie's toys with wooden beads to count the repetitions. He starts to lose interest after five times, so we make up ridiculous phrases for him to say each time he holds the violin. Number six is "peanut butter applesauce!" and number nine is "gopher guts!" and I can't remember the rest but Joshua probably does. Charlie thinks the whole thing is hilarious. The babysitter rings the doorbell, which means my first flute student will be arriving in about ten minutes. I pick up my studio which is cluttered with sheet music, instrument parts, baby blankets and trains. Joshua and Charlie do normal kid stuff with the sitter all afternoon while I'm teaching.

Dinner, baths, bedtime, Peter is finally home. We catch up for a few minutes. I have to learn the music for the next symphony concert, so I head down to the basement and have a good time playing. The kids sleep through it.

3 comments:

PhoenixHearse said...

I remember learning to play the violin in second grade. Of course, they taught us the Suzuki method, so I can't play a lick now. Pity.

Anonymous said...

Good for you for managing to maintain your creative life amidst the chaos of day-to-day with small children. I'm really enjoying your posts. Thank you for the glimpses into your life.

Sunrunner said...

Who needs clothes when you're almost three? Zachy gets to a certain time of day every day with clothes, then all bets (and socks and pants...) are off!