If you were told that an appointment at school would be from 7:30 to 8 o’clock, would you assume morning or evening?
If you were told it was all right to bring your preschooler, provided they could sit quietly, would you be able to make that assumption of your child?
I guessed wrong on the first question, thinking the meeting would be tonight, then second-guessing myself and calling to check. Nope, it was this morning. Whoops! The teacher told me I could come in at 12:30 this afternoon instead; I wasn’t about to mess up on the second issue, too, if I could do anything about it at all, so I was very relieved when my friend Sarah was able to take Gabe on such short notice. While Gabe has been able to sit still for the odd half-hour on occasion, I wasn’t going to bank anything on his ability to do so in an unfamiliar room filled with tempting string instruments.
This was the introductory meeting to talk violin for Sam. Sam, naturally, wasn’t involved. 
For the first few weeks, it’s parents only, learning how to assist the teacher and the kids in learning. It’s a Suzuki Thing. So we learned the parts of the violin, got some basic structure, and clapped and sang some rhythms. The teacher apologized to me and another mom, who were already musically literate, but she didn’t need to do that; I may be able to read music, but I’ve never taught beginning strings. I’m planning to ape her as much as possible so I don’t scare him off with vocabulary.
I have no idea how this is going to work logistically. Gabe would be a nightmare if I brought him, trying to muscle in on every bit of attention that the teacher or I gave Sam. Sarah offered to take Gabe for me for the half-hour lessons, assuming we’ll keep going to this time slot (I offered to give her regular breaks from her kids in exchange), but the class is pretty full and there’s a chance we’ll get bumped to the 7:30 AM class. I’m not dumping Gabe on anybody at that hour, so he’d have to come with us. Yikes!
And the final issue? I heard from another mom that none of the local music shops have any violins left to rent. I may have to go up to Milwaukee to find one. This should be a hoot.
I’m doing this race as my first 50K/ultra in July 2012. I’m so tardy to the party but...
Hm, Suzuki… I remember, piano-wise, some friends who were being taught that way – it seemed to focus on teaching playing by rote without reading music.
My friends could play some pretty neat stuff very early on, but were hopeless at learning new stuff from sheet music. Probably it was just that they never got to the later stages – or that their ear wasn’t too great. (By contrast, I was doing RCM, which has its own faults I guess – weak in ear training.)
Dunno anything about whether there’s a difference between piano and string Suzuki, but I’ll be keeping my eyes open to make sure he doesn’t get “lopsided.”
I have such fond, fond memories of my Suzuki lessons. My dad was the parent involved (since my mom is a lot like you, very musically literate, the church pianist and choir director) and it was awesome. We did learn to read music eventually, which put me way ahead when we started piano.
And if we were in the same area, I would definitely take Gabe at 7:15 so you could be in the 7:30 class. We are up anyway.
Call down to Pacetti’s in K-town. If they don’t have one they should be able to tell you who might.
And I’m with you. I would have assumed “evening” if there is a 7:30 meeting scheduled, unless it is stated explicitly AM. This is my biggest gripe about school meetings — so far I have had two (TWO) one on one meetings with my daughter’s teacher and they have both been dictated to me as to time. You have no idea how badly this ticks me off… I’m very lucky I can make a 9:40 Tuesday AM meeting at school — but if I were working (and really, that’ll be the situation when #2 is in kindergarten), there’s no possible way.
I suppose I’m used to business etiquette, whereby both parties consult each other and, you know, MUTUALLY AGREE on a meeting date and time… seems like a general courtesy to me…
I’m curious to hear how this goes. I’m thinking of starting Tristan in Suzuki violin classes. I guess I’d better call and find out more, huh? I played violin myself for 8 years, so I’m curious to see what they teach.