You may remember going into middle school and having to choose one elective. Last Spring when we read through all the options: Art, Theater Arts, Band, Orchestra, Choir, Cameron had a difficult time choosing just one. Just one. It's kind of like the Robert Frost poem - Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood, and sorry I could not travel both... So she waivered between Art, Theater Arts, and Music.
I pushed a little. I simply told her that if she's ever wanted to learn to play an instrument other than the piano...EVER... then she had to take either Band or Orchestra in sixth grade. She would never have this opportunity again, where if she takes a year of music and decides it's not her thing, she can move into another elective and know that she tried an instrument once. (For the record, in our personal middle school experiences Bryan took band/percussion and I took choir.)
Cameron chose Orchestra, specifically the Cello. It's a beautiful instrument.
Because she can't take the instrument on the school bus, we rent one from a family-owned violin shop in Pasadena for Cameron to practice at home. She uses a school instrument during class-time. Wednesday we brought it home for the first time.
Cameron had a long list of rules to tell us about handling the cello. First, always take the bow out of the case before removing the cello. It's also the last thing to be packed.
When you need to rest your cello, never stand it up and lean it against a chair or couch. You're supposed to lay it on the long side with the strings facing away from any walkway. You don't want to accidentally walk past and knock into the strings.
She has a block of rosin for the bow. I never knew that you used rosin for anything other than your dance shoes!
She showed us how to hold the bow and draw it across the strings. Brenna and I also learned the names of the strings. For some reason I expected the sound to be screechy, but Cameron played a recognizable "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" without any "feedback" sound.
I'm looking forward to... listening ... to her grow and learn more about music and this instrument.
For her birthday we bought Cameron a desk for her bedroom, to create a personal space for her homework and studying; however, I try to have just a little something to open on her actual birthday. Earlier this summer I won a Twitter contest from MckMama and planned to give the prize to Cameron for her birthday, but it hadn't arrived! With perfect timing, the box showed up on the doorstep late this afternoon.
Cameron really likes the young Christian singing trio known as PureNRG and her gift was an autographed CD prize pack.
