Birthdays, Back to School and Back to More Songs

Jewelia just started the 3rd grade!  She is getting so old!  Well, I suppose she is somewhat young as a 7 year old in 3rd grade, but 3rd grade sounds old.  

Fall is always busy with back to school and dance classes, and many people in her family celebrate their birthdays in September and October.  Although it is busy, Jewelia still works hard to keep up on her violin practice.  

Here she is playing a new song from Les Miserables called Do You Hear the People Sing?

           

Jewelia recently traded in her violin to a bigger size once again.  We aren't so sure of this one.  It sounds a bit scratchy.  It is tough when you have to rent student violins.  

Jewelia Plays in a Concert Downtown

Jewelia was invited to play with her brothers at a concert downtown this past August.  

She played a song with Caleb and then a fiddle duet with her brother Micah on his guitar.  

Here is part of her Gavotte with Caleb;

And here is her fiddle duet:

            

Jewelia does great on the big stage 

Violin Lessons; Fun with Duets

Jewelia has the best violin teacher.  Her name is Emily and she is so nice and fun.  

Sometimes when we go to lessons we take a camera to record the fun duets they do.  

Here Jewelia practices a fiddle duet with her teacher called Swallowtail Jig:

             

Outdoors and Still Fiddlin' Away

Jewelia has been having a fun summer and enjoying some hiking in the outdoors.  

It seems to suit her that she would choose to play yet another fiddle song!  

This is actually a recording from a few months before her recital, but we forgot to put it up on the blog.

Here she is playing "St. Anne's Reel":

         

Jewelia's Summer Recital

Jewelia had her Summer violin recital where she played 2 songs.  

First, she played Gavotte from her Suzuki 2 book.

             

Her older brother Caleb was nice enough to accompany her.

Then, she played a fiddle song duet with her teacher, and had her older brother Micah add some chords with his guitar.

              

They did awesome!

How fun to be able to play with her brothers too!

Her Grammy and Grandpop came to the recital as well.

Jewelia is doing great and she has the best teacher.  

We can't wait until her next recital!

Gavotte from Mignon

Jewelia is having a fun Summertime.  She is playing lots and relaxing a bit, but she is still practicing her violin hard.  She has learned a lot of songs this summer.  

She learned a new song in her Suzuki Book that lets her pluck strings at the end called Gavotte from Mignon.  Here she is playing it with her brother Caleb:

            

Awesome playing and plucking Jewelia!

Fun with the Family Band

Jewelia decided to have some fun playing her violin with some help from her family.  She loves playing songs out of her fiddle book, and she saw that it had chords for guitar, so she asked her brother to play with her.  Her little sister wanted to help out as well, so she got her drums and shakers.

Here are the videos of Jewelia playing with part of her family band.  Sorry, we realized afterwards that her E string was out of tune, so on the second song it sounds like she is playing a wrong note, but it isn't her fault because it is an open string just out of tune.  

      

      

Jewelia is going to have a violin recital coming up and she has asked her older brother to play his guitar with her for one of her songs.  

Theme from "Witches Dance"

It is Summertime and Jewelia is out of school.  

She has been being good and practicing her violin every day. 

Usually Jewelia can learn a song pretty quickly, but then it is a matter of memorizing it and asking her brother to play the accompaniment with her.  Sometimes it is a little tricky to get her brother and herself to match up equally, or sometimes her brother likes to play too loud or fast or slow and so they have to practice learning how to play together.

It doesn't take long though.  They can be ready after just a few days of practice.  

Here is the latest song she has been working on.  It is called "Witches Dance":

            

This time her violin was in tune, and if you notice she is keeping her wrist out more.  Jewelia has been working really hard trying to break the bad habit of touching her wrist to the neck of the violin.  She has improved a lot!

Jewelia Helps Her Brother Compose

Jewelia is a pretty smart little girl.  She has been working hard to improve on her violin.  

Often, she will team up with her brother Caleb on piano to play songs together.  They are a good team.

Last month she was asked to go play her violin or sing at a friend's church.  She was supposed to play a certain easy church song with simple accompaniment, but her brother didn't like the arrangement.  Caleb decided to find a fancier piano arrangement, but then it didn't have a violin part to go with it.  

Caleb and Jewelia worked together so that Caleb could arrange the song to fit the new fancier piano accompaniment.  Jewelia liked it and suggested a fun ending that her brother wrote into the music as well.  

They did this all in one night, so there was only time to practice maybe 3 times before church.  Jewelia was so awesome that she was all ready to play it just overnight!  

Here is the song they played with the violin part that was arranged by her brother Caleb:

Jewelia Performs in the School Talent Show

Jewelia auditioned for her school talent show and she made it as one of the youngest performers!  She was so excited to play one of her fiddle songs.  She even got all dressed up in some "fiddle playing clothes".  

Here she is playing "Kesh Jig" (with the repeats that she remembered all by herself) at her school talent show:

           

Jewelia Turns 7 Years Old!!!

Jewelia celebrated her 7th birthday and this year she requested a violin cake!  Her mom worked pretty hard to make it just right.  It turned out pretty well.

She had a great day.  She even got her hair all curled and beautiful.  

She is excited to be a big 7 year old now.

Last Song as a 6 Year Old

Jewelia has done so well as a young violinist.  She was great as a beginner playing her first song at 4 years old, and at 5 years old she learned a lot.  At 6 years old she has been awesome.  As it got nearer to her birthday, she wanted to perform one more fiddle song.

This one is called "Ganglat Fran Mockfjard" which Jewelia just loved to say.  It is an old Swedish walking song.  

                

Songs in Suzuki Book 2

While Jewelia really loves her fiddle songs, she is still learning songs from her Suzuki violin books.  She is nearing the end part of book 2.  

Here she plays "Bouree" with Caleb accompanying:

          

And here is another one, "The Two Grenadiers":

          

Her pieces are becoming a little longer and more detailed.  Some of Jewelia's biggest challenges right now are trying to keep her wrist out from touching the neck of the violin.  Sometimes she's a little flat on notes, but she is working hard to be a good little violinist.  

Jewelia Plays in Church

They asked our family to speak in church, and when they ask us to speak, we think rather to play music!  So, along with all of us talking, we had each of the kids do a musical number.  

It was kind of a late notice, so Jewelia had only 3 days to learn a song on her violin.  She practiced a couple of different songs, but in the end, the one that sounded best was "Families Can Be Together Forever", so that is what she played.

Here she is practicing at home with her brother Caleb as accompanist:

             

She did just great in church speaking and playing her violin!

A Fiddle Song for Easter

It's Spring time, and Jewelia got a new Easter dress!  

No Easter songs here, but maybe it's time for another fun fiddle song!  

Here she is playing "Kesh Jig":