<p>It's such a joy finally having our D back home for the holidays. She just woke up, and the first thing she did was go directly to the piano. So, right now I'm drinking my coffee and hearing Christmas carols. Life is good!. Only one more semester to go--wow, it has gone fast! </p>
<p>I hope all our college musicians have made it home ( or will do so today) for wonderful holiday times with the family. Enjoy!</p>
<p>Happy Holidays to you, sopranomom92! Our S’s plane was 4 hours delayed on Tuesday due to weather. And, he had come down with a bad case of the flu over the weekend and had to get an extension on two papers–so he spent his first day home (about 15 hours straight) finishing the papers. So, finally on Thursday he felt like his break had started and we could start enjoying the holidays. Of course, now there is practicing for the auditions! Yes, hearing the music again is fantastic!</p>
<p>Love having the music back in the house - can’t wait for her to get home again. But it won’t be unitl late Christmas Eve since she also works retail.</p>
<p>D came home last week and it’s been great “evesdropping” on her practice sessions! Her voice has grown- that happens when you’re finally singing the right fach (!)- and she’s singing the “big rep” now. I can’t even describe how thrilled I am to hear her taking on Octavian!!</p>
<p>That’s something I never realized I would miss when D went off to school. Now when she performs, I don’t have the full insider experience. I can still guess which parts saw lots of practice, but it’s nothing like the days when I heard every repetition of that tricky bit and held my breath along with her (and her teacher) when she was up there.</p>
<p>Ah, stradmom. DD used to laugh that I always mouthed the words along with her. Now it is all new to me and I jsut sit back and enjoy it. It is much less stressful BTW.</p>
<p>stradmom,
I also missed my son’s practice horribly when he went to school. But my Jack Russell Terrier turned out to miss it even more. One day I put on Ella Fitzgerald Singing “Autumn in New York” on my computer and the dog jumped off the window seat where he was sitting and dove into his crate and turned around and sat up listening for the entire song. After that all fall I had to play that song at bed-time for the dog before he would settle. It was the funniest thing.</p>
<p>My son was only home briefly as he is traveling the next two weeks but our dog was so happy to be cuddled on his bed listening to him practice.</p>
<p>Stradmom, same here. I used to know my daughters rep so well. Now it’s as mysterious as a stranger’s.</p>
<p>Another morning, another cup of coffee enjoyed to sounds of beautiful music… :)</p>
<p>The dog is happier, too. So far he hasn’t sung along, but he will!</p>
<p>I hope all the other music students make it home safely.</p>
<p>My son came home the weds before Christmas (we actually picked him up, he had a lot of stuff since he will be here for a while) and it is nice to hear him practicing, and also to hear the difference his new teacher has on him, his practicing is different and it seems to be working better, thanks to what his teacher has taught him. I think the most amazing thing is his confidence is there, he went to school in august after an angst filled year feeling self conscious, not sure he would fit into the studio he is in, and he has grown tremendously, while he is conscious of how good the other kids in the studio are, he is realizing (no thanks to his prior teacher, who quite frankly thought she was a doing him a favor by constantly eviscerating him, when all it did was make him over question himself) that he is there for a reason and the one positive thing with his old teacher, is that he is self critical so can understand when the teacher says something (the teacher is incredibly polite and nice, but also doesn’t miss anything), even if said nicely, he realizes what needs to be worked on…and the teacher’s approach is very holistic, which seems to work well for my son.</p>
<p>The funny thing is my son reversed the freshman 15, he lost weight, went down a pants size <em>lol</em>. He says it is because he is too busy to eat, plus he has the luxury of not eating the crap in the cafeteria all the time, which helps:). </p>
<p>One of the things I realize with him gone is how much music he brought into the house, and not just his playing, when not playing, he is constantly on You Tube or on spotify, listening to different versions of pieces and pointing them out to us…he may not have won international competitions or whatever, but I can guarantee you his passion for it is second to none:).</p>
<p>I love to hear how your kids are loving and thriving with their music educations. I wish I had been one of those, but I had perfect pitch and it ruined everything. I wish I could go back to the days when I thought everybody heard what I did. I am serious, it killed my joy for music. I am envious of hyour kids that arw loving their music educations.</p>
<p>Sorry for the typos</p>
<p>I have perfect pitch also and although I notice the “off” elements in every performance, I can’t say that it’s ever impaired my love for music. One could choose to let it do so, I suppose, but why what would that serve?</p>
<p>My S has perfect pitch as well, and it didn’t hurt his appreciation for music. In many ways it is a curse, not a gift, because of so much of music is relative pitch, and in his solfege courses they were very careful not to allow him to use his perfect pitch to resolve things…It also is a bother when a someone is attuned to A being 440 and the orchestra is tunes to 442 or 445…:). Doesn’t seem to affect his passion for the music either, he can obviously determine if people play out of tune, but given music is a human art, of course they will and do, even the best of them:).</p>
<p>“Perfect” pitch should be called “absolute” pitch. The adjective “perfect” makes laypeople assume that it is somehow superior to relative pitch, but it’s not. There are (I have read) different degrees of absolute pitch. My daughter the violinist also has absolute/perfect pitch, but many of her friends and colleagues who are equally or more accomplished do not. They have excellent relative pitch and it serves them “perfectly” well. It did help out with her ear-training classes, at least in the lower levels of the class. And made for a good parlor game when she was younger.</p>
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<p>Let me say that my extended family, while wonderful in many ways, does NOT have perfect pitch, with the exception of a couple of people. Those folks always have a slightly pained look during parts of the Passover seder when our singing takes on a certain independence of key. Maybe that’s why the rabbis instituted the four cups of wine tradition? :)</p>
<p>LOL, stradmom!!</p>