The Yoga of Violin

I find that I spend much of my time working with my students on the “mental game” of violin. Even at a young age, when the attention span is short, if I can get a child to concentrate their full attention on the task at hand, I know that they will absorb what I am telling them and experience improvement. Conversely, no matter how much time is invested “practicing” or “repeating” certain things, if the mind is not involved, there will be no retention of those things, and the time is wasted.

I recently revisited my yoga practice, which I started in 1999 and have done with varying frequency over the years since then. I came across this quote, which applies to yoga, to violin, and to a life of awareness:

Performance in downtown Palo Alto!

The Music Within Us will be performing in downtown Palo Alto after the 85th annual May Fete parade on Saturday, May 5, 2007, at 12:00 noon. The theme of this year’s parade is “Wonderful World of Make Believe.”

Click here for more event details.

CONCERT LOCATION: We will be performing in Lytton Plaza, on the corner of University Ave. and Emerson St., in front of Pizza My Heart restaurant.

REVISED SCHEDULE for Saturday, May 5th Open House

Due to our students’ performance at the May Fete parade in Palo Alto on May 5, we will observe the following revised schedule:

9:00AM Arrival of all students in Room H-1

9:00AM-10:30AM Combined rep class and rehearsal for all students (open to observers)

10:30AM-10:45AM Students dismissed to get dressed for performance 

10:30AM-11:00AM Parent seminar for Fall 2007 enrollment

11:30AM Students arrive at performance location in Palo Alto, dressed in performing clothes

Postlude on Residency Weekend 2007

What a great weekend it was! Thanks to the support and involvement of so many of The Music Within Us families, our first Residency Weekend was a huge success for everyone involved.

On the first day, as the students accompanied me in my teaching, I was immediately struck by the sense that what Mrs. Haag really created was a “mini civilization” with inherited values, rituals, culture, and language. With our shared “heritage”, all of her students who lived through the process from toddler through teenage years are part of an extended “family” of sorts.