It is 1 pm, that is to say, mid-morning on a lovely snow day in Indiana. I was sick this week. On Sunday my breathing felt really tight, as though I was having my old asthma attacks (in the middle of winter?) so I told myself it was allergies (in the middle of winter?). By Monday morning, I was definitely ill with something that had settled right into my throat. I met with a prospective student but cancelled my voice lesson and rehearsal. By the afternoon, I had body aches, chills, and was in no condition to go back out to teach. And herein lies the story:
I was texting my two assistant Suzuki program teachers, Anna and Angelica, about covering the beginner group class for me Monday evening. I promised I would send them over notes on what to teach in the class, so I started typing them on my phone while I was curled up in little ball in the corner. Our repairman had come to reinstall our microwave, and was flipping the breaker switches for the whole house trying to figure out which one went to the microwave (there is nothing in our house that is not wired weird).
So, when I was trying to specify the part of the violin that I put my thumb on for left hand pizzicato (which I have always just called "the hump") I decided to go all technical and call it by the correct term. Which is heel. But I forgot and thought it was the saddle (down at the other end of the violin under the tailgut!). Since my modem had just been turned off by the repairman trying to find the microwave, I tried but failed to confirm this little detail via Google.
The next day, I realized to my horror that my assistants had enthusiastically taught two 4 year olds and their PhD fathers the entirely wrong term. Maybe this will seem funny to me someday, just as I thought it was hilarious that my son gave himself a nosebleed later on in the same class while singing the Sunflower Song. . .
So, if you were at (or teaching!) the class a few days ago, please accept my apologies. Maybe you can spend some of your snow day watching these videos on the parts of a violin, and what it's like to make a really beautiful instrument from scratch. Everything is better with little kids and popcorn.
The Violin...and tips for removing the neck
The Architect of Sound
