My dear sweets had the annual Solo & Ensemble event just yesterday. She had prepared a violin solo and was doing a string duet with a friend. The girls go, play their string duet and do a fairly decent job. It was a lot of shifting and frankly, other than saying that apparently that is very challenging in violin playing, I have no idea what I am talking about. However! The girls did a great job, particularly since they hadn't a lot of time to prepare for it.
K had worked on her solo for months. My friend, Heather, is her violin instructor. Bless her soul, she sees K and does not charge us for it. She has prepared K. She has tweaked. The other day, she sent me a text stating, "Perfection and I don't say that to my students."
K finished playing her duet with C, then she was the very next time slot. She had to wait for the judge to finish writing her comments about their duet before she started playing. She patiently waited for a few minutes. While she did that, she had the bottom of her violin resting on the top of her thigh. When it was announced that she could begin, she raised her violin and . . . her dress. The shoulder rest grabbed hold of her dress and pulled it up! I gasped, but we all laughed. Most importantly, K laughed. Thankfully, she had some legging capris on under the dress, so all we saw were pants, but . . . At 14, I would have rather ended up sinking into the surface of the floor than to continue on, but she did. She continued on beautifully.
K earned a I on her solo. (1 out of 5, with 1 being the best.) She and C earned a II, and both girls were elated.
It was a great lift for her, not only to her esteem, but also to her dress hem.
