so the east side beginning orchestra, comprised of 90ish 4th-graders from the half-dozen elementary schools on this side of town, had their first concert at the end of january. we had known that EvilGremlin was enjoying playing the bass, and we thought he was good. turns out, he’s REALLY good. we found out that he’s plowed through about 2-3 times as many pages in his lesson book as any of the other kids. during the concert, he was one of the few kids who was drawing long, steady bow strokes with confidence; while the other 8 or so bass players wavered off key and off beat, you could clearly hear EG playing in tune and on time (even as he struggled to see the conductor over the apparently non-adjustable music stand.)
in addition to a little skill, he’s also got some balls. after the beginning orchestra played, they took seats in the audience and listened to the advanced (5th and 6th grade) orchestra play. i knew he liked it – i didn’t know how much. without mentioning the bug up his ass to either of his parents, at his next lesson, he told his teacher that he really liked the music the advanced orchestra had played, and asked if he could play with them. she made sure it was okay with us first, and then said yes.
so! the first advanced orchestra practice was a little intimidating… for me, mostly. EG is tiny and goofy, and dropping him off at the high school in a roomful of 11-13 year olds seemed like one of those things that could go really wrong really quickly… but it was fine. 4 practices in, i’m convinced this is this nicest group of middle-schoolers on the planet. they pay attention to the teacher, they’re polite, outgoing, take the work seriously, but have good senses of humor. several of them went out of their way to make sure EG had all the sheet music he needed, they joke around with him like he’s one of them, and after the initial shock of jumping straight from “plucking out Mary Had a Little Lamb in unison” to “bowing one of eight separate parts of Pachelbel’s Canon in D” and “getting a crash course in playing slap-bass at 142 beats per minute,” he’s having a really, really good time.
i had warned him that one of the more difficult new skills he would need would be keeping time perfectly when other people are playing something completely different from what he’s playing. so i grabbed the violin parts for some of the orchestra music so i could practice with him at home and help get him up to speed more quickly.
yeah. let me just say that i can probably get him through the summer with my help, but by next summer, he’s going to be outplaying me in a big way. we did good on “Crystal City March.” within a few days, he was able to count his measures of rests and come in on his pick-up notes with no problems. i quickly determined that there was no way in hell i’d be playing the violin part to Canon in D anytime soon, so i set up an mp3 player on his old-ass windows 98 computer and got him a recording to play along with.
then there’s the traditional american folk music. like “Cripple Creek.” i LOVE cripple creek. it’s fun. it’s easy. i have it memorized, on both the banjo and the fiddle. EG loves cripple creek, too. so he’s practiced it a lot. and as of right now, i physically can’t keep up with the boy on Cripple Creek. now, granted, between my nerve-damaged hands and the necessity of learning how to provide, and then providing, language therapy to MonkeyBeef, i basically took nearly two years off playing the banjo and fiddle, but fuck me! you know that sinking feeling that you’re a douchebag when a 10-year-old hands you your buckwheats at Halo 3? multiply that by about 3, and that’s where i am. actually, on those occasions when i’ve told him to correct his bowing technique to improve his tone, and then taken a turn on his bass to show him what i mean, only to realize that the tone i get out of a bass bow is nowhere near as good as his… make that multiplier more like a 10.
mostly, though, we’re really, really proud of the little shit. it’s okay when your kids don’t like the same things you like (okay, so i almost cried when the twits had me take down all their star wars posters so there’d be more room for science posters, but other than THAT, it’s okay.) and it’s okay when your kids aren’t good at stuff. but when your kid loves something that you love, AND is good at it, it’s REALLY freaking cool.
so, yay! i’m working on getting my bluegrass back up to speed. PositiveRoleModel and i can both keep up with him on “Boil Them Cabbages Down” and “Ashokan Farewell” and “Red-Haired Boy.” and MonkeyBeef loves to come busting in on practice sessions, grab the bow, and sway back and forth as he belts out the ABC song while playing the bass that his big brother will helpfully hold for him. and the twits… are busy composing music. they’re mostly frustrated by their parents’ inability to play what they have written – even when they write it in tablature for a certain retarded banjo player. even though said retarded banjo player insists that there should be the same number of lines in every measure, and that the numbers on the lines probably should have 2 digits only on very rare occasions, and never 3 digits… banjo players are still retarded. just ask DramaQueen and SpazMonkey!
anyway. family music. good times!
