Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Winter 冬至


This is on my way of exercising. Winter comes and it will snow very soon. The fields are covered by frost and the air is chilly. The last piece of green color in the field is saying goodbye to me: See you again when spring comes...

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Anja played solo: Koncert G dur by Vivaldi at a concert tonight. She had been practicing this piece for almost the whole month. It is a pity that she played a bit wrong with the notes in the middle. Maybe she is not so used to play with the pianist and she rehearsed with him for a couple of times before the concert. Actually, she plays much more nicer at home than she did in the concert. I suppose this is the way to which things sometimes would  go and I must get use to it.  She felt OK and did not burst into tear afterwards. I told her that she played very well even though it was a mistake there. Other parents come to us and gave Anja very good comments and nice words about her performing. She smiled and looked happy.

To some extents, I am learning together with her during this process: what is perfection? what is the most important thing should be in our heart while learning music? how to enjoy this process .... it seems that it applies to my clothing designing and making process as well:)


9 comments:

Di said...

What is perfection is that Anja feels confident enough to stand up and play a solo - way to go Anja!!

I love your photo and hope that the snow doesn't come too soon! I love cool crisp air and ice but not snow so much because here in the UK we are useless at coping with it - shown by last winter's conditions for 6 weeks! I couldn't use my car for 3 weeks!

Kenza said...

Oh perfection is just a concept... one of those that bind you into little boxes. Music is life, it should ring and sing and reflect what we feel. What is perfect? That does not matter. What is important is the feeling of joy as her fingers go down the strings and her hand feels the vibrations of the arch. And what is as important is the smile it brings on her mommy's face!
Your photos are stunning!
(listening to Violin concerto by Glass performed by Takuo Yuasa, beautiful. I wish we could hear it all together!)

Fei An said...

Thank you, Kenza! I am so happy that you are here at this blogspot place.
I am listening to this piece now:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtvQm10qHO4&feature=related

Beautiful!

alliot + iza said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
alliot + iza said...

My dearest Fei An,

I would love to share with you a little thought. Once I asked papa ziggy if he noticed that i had purposely edited all clips of iza's mistakes in playing violin into the two videos ? He said that he didn't quite get my intention. I feel that it's nice to show her fine performance. But it's nothing compared to see how iza reacted to the mistakes with such a delightful spirit, and, her effort in getting them right again. It is the most delicious part of any learning process. The mind, the attitude in embracing mistakes.

I know Anja must have paid a lot of effort in practices since the time was quite tight. It's just that things did't turn out smoothly on stage. It is a natural learning process. As said by the physicist Niels Bohr, " One of the essential lessons of learning, which is that people learn how to get it right by getting it wrong again and again. "

I enjoy reading a few chinese blogs. The mamas showed works of their children ... i see how they TREASURE and EMBRACE MISTAKES of their kids with humor :)
http://mama4.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/first-writings-of-c/
http://audreyandv.blogspot.com/2011/11/1.html

What is perfection? ... to me, it's go and do experience mistakes ... it would be a lovely process ...

I don't know whether it's appropriate to ask ... is that usual in Norway that a child would have performances in a high frequency? With my little experience with iza, it may be a pretty different kind of practices, learning mode, and mentality if the learning is with a strong purpose, like performance, examination or competition ... During preparations for the exam & competitions, iza needs to highly focus on a few pieces instead of a vast spectrum of music. Need to polish techniques in every details. And, free exploration is not likely to happen during these intense periods ... It's nice to have these but the frequency could be a concern.

May you have interest :
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/why-do-some-people-learn-faster-2/

alliot + iza said...

Sorry that i'm too sleepy :)
Should be " During preparations for performances, exams & competitions ... "

Fei An said...

Dearest Alliot,

Thank you for you comments and the links. I will mark them all later.
And I read through the article about "Why Do Some People Learn Faster?" later as well.

I noticed the "mistake clips" of Iza's violin playing videos, Anja noticed it as well:) I just felt you are so real about things but had not put " your intention" deep somewhere in my heart.

When Anja played wrong on the stage, my heart stopped beating for a second. I have to admit this. When she walked to me with a smiling face while the audience applauded for her loudly, I felt a bit ashamed of myself. You see, people know how to react to the mistakes and the kids naturally can also react to the mistakes with a delightful spirit. I am ashamed of putting my own expectation of pursuing perfection on my dear children. I know it is time for me to learn to be a "helpful" mother regarding to the children's learning process. I like to read books but seldom read books about education of Children. What a pity! The good thing is that the "mistake" which Anja made on the stage brings me to this point, and I am happy about it's happening now. It really makes me awake...I need to catch up with some works which I should have begun with a long time ago.

So far, there is no exams & competitions for her violin playing. This is the first time that she played a solo since this autumn semester began. She played a couple of times with the local junior orchestra as well. It seems they are trying to arrange things happen for every month. The Norwegian kids and parents in our local area are not as serious as I am regarding to instrument playing and practicing. In Oslo city, maybe it is a bit different. Anja learns fast and she practices for almost 1 hour each day. And that is why she is more advanced than the others who started violin at the same time since last autumn. Actually, 昨天的表演她算是最出色的一个了,所以观众给了她很热烈的掌声。所有的这些原因加在一起,让她的老师觉得她很有潜力,搞得我也有点对她产生期待。 她的老师一直不喜欢我们这个区的环境,因为大人都只是抱着让孩子拉琴好玩的心态。我承认, 这也很重要。所以每次练琴,都会让她自己随便拉一会儿她喜欢的曲目。其实她现在很会游戏音乐了,她会玩在键盘上弹她的小提琴曲目,会和妹妹一起玩开音乐会。。。她的老师这个星期二还说希望安雅能和奥斯陆的孩子一起拉琴。她说那的水准会好很多,也可以让安雅有同伴的促进。我知道她当然是为安雅好。加上安雅的学校功课并不重,所以搞得拉琴成了每天能做的一件正经事儿。我知道这儿有误区。下来会努力调整, 我知道自己做得太不够了。我没有期望安雅成为专业的小提琴手,我只是觉得既然开始做一件事情,就要努力把它有模有样得做好。做到完美不太可能,也不重要。重要的是在这个过程中的成长。This process is one that "it's go and do experience mistakes ... it would be a lovely process ..."

说实话,我觉得这种Solo,一年两次足够了, Junior Orchestra的曲目对她来讲倒是没有什么难度. 其实拉solo曲目对她也没什么压力,倒是对我有压力.呵呵. 我看她的老师也有点儿小关注.:)好,下来要努力调整.

再次感谢你,dearest Alliot, I am so lucky to have you there to share all these with me...

Amélie said...

Dear Fei An, I think I would have felt the same... though I so agree with Kenza, music is life, and what's fantastic is Anja playing solo Vivaldi, her joy in progressing ...
This view of the first frosts in Norway is wonderful. Love the colors and the light. This is such a nice and peaceful landscape you live by.

coco said...

well, your place looks so much different from where i live now. quiet winter scene with white snow would be so pretty, i think.
Not living in snowy place, i really miss that atmosphere even though it is cold.