beginnings

I had my first violin lesson as a Suzuki-parent yesterday. As an active college teacher, working towards deadlines measured by the weeks and months of semester calendars, it was a strange and somewhat nebulous feeling to be explicitly reminded that this learning process (for both my daughter and me) will be measured in years. I felt like I had been thrown in a deep pool, far away from the solid edge to grab onto.

Of course, in the abstract I recognized that the process is my daughter’s first experience with an instrument and that beginning at the beginning is the only place for her to start. In the actual moment of beginning however, I underestimated the emotional effect that this beginning would have on me as I too learn the instrument from scratch. I am a trained brass player, in the habit of grabbing a trombone and beginning to blow. The first lesson, introducing how to properly hold the violin so that it resembles a balanced extension of my shoulder, rather than a fragile piece of wood gripped tightly by my jaw and neck, brought the enormity of the process home to me.