<p>clarinetmom - Thanks, D got an ace bandage and some ice for her wrist and remembered how to adjust her bow grip, and she says the wrist feels better. </p>
<p>I hear you about the exhaustion level. Moving to the longer time seems to work itself out somehow, maybe because everyone there is in the same boat and the group manages to settle on a sustainable pace after a few weeks. You don’t say how old your D is, but if she still has a few high school summers to work with, it can be a nice progression to do first NYSSSA, then BUTI. Many kids in my D’s youth orchestra, which is more or less local to both Saratoga and Tanglewood, take that route. Given a third summer, there are two-week instrument-specific workshops at BUTI that allow players to stay for 8 weeks total.</p>
<p>hornmom - like you, I am an advance planner. I think the map you are striving to create is a great idea. I have to try hard to consider those moments when D announces a change of mind and a new map is required as extra-exciting challenges. It seems clear given what he’s been doing so far that your S will always love music, but don’t discount the academics just yet either. He might discover a love of chemistry at 16 or 17 that will trump music as a career path. This possibility doesn’t change the training you are planning for him now, but it does somehow add a different tint to the map. </p>
<p>I was paging through a magazine the other day and happened on a self-help article about good listening. Here’s a paraphrase (the author is Gail Blanke but I don’t have the exact text anymore): </p>
<p>"Kate turned at the elevator door and yelled, “Isn’t anybody listening to me? I don’t want to be a ballerina!”
“She doesn’t want to be a ballerina,” Danny, our doorman, said.
“I got it,” I said.</p>
<p>I am not in any way thinking of your own ballerina daughter, hornmom, or that you are not listening - I just know I always can use a little refresher listening lesson, and I thought this was funny, so thought I’d share. I hope and trust that none of our children will ever have to resort to yelling in public places to get their message across…</p>