What a week!

Steve has joined the 4G smart phone world with a Samsung S4.   He kept saying he was fine with his old Sarah hand-me-down semi-smart-phone but I accidentally knocked it off the dresser as it was charging and it was never the same so a new phone became a necessity.  I think he likes is new device…

It is so strange that a four-day work week can seem so LONG but that is how this week has been.  It feels like it was ages ago that we had Monday off for Martin Luther King’s birthday.  By then, Steve was feeling better (from flu, per last blog) and so we were able to go to Steven and Tamara's house for dinner – grilled pork chops and salad and baked potatoes and I brought a banana cream pie.  Mmmm.

I think what made the week feel so long was that I had two Instrument Exploration Nights (IENs) to work; one Tuesday and one Thursday.  These typically last almost three hours starting at 6:30.  Three hours of a seemingly never-ending line of 5^th grade kids and their parents waiting to try out the string bass, which I demonstrate.  This is what I said and did a MILLION times both nights....

Hello – (reach for student’s information card and read name, assuming the parent has filled out the card.  Many haven’t because they don’t have a pen!  Who goes through life without a pen?  Do they think they can TEXT their answers on the card???) insert child’s name from insert school.  I see you already play insert instrument OR I see you have never played an instrument before.   For the bass, I want you to put your left foot on here and your right foot here (demonstrate foot placement or ask child to move away from the bass so you can demonstrate foot placement) and you let the bass lean into your body.  (I am keeping one hand at all times on the bass as I talk).  Then you take your left hand and hold the bass up here (on the scroll) and you take your right thumb and place it right here (on the fingerboard) and you pluck with your right index finger. Try making some sounds….

While the student plucks away on the strings, I ask the parent “do you have a vehicle that can transport a bass?” and indicate the answer in the little box marked “bass” on the information card.  After about 30 seconds of plucking, I hand them the bow and show them where to place it on the strings and let them saw away for another 30 seconds.  If a child is really tall, I typically give them and “excellent” rating and if their bow sound is particularly strong, I will write that in the box.  If a child is average height, I usually mark “good +” and if they are tiny, or if they don’t have a car that can transport a bass, I mark “OK” and I tell the parent that their child’s size is not suitable for a bass.  I advise them that students can move over to the bass in a couple years, after they have grown. I explain that the bass is the largest instrument in the orchestra and also the most fragile.  The strings are extremely thick and require special tuning pegs (the gear/cog type rather than the wedge-in type) which puts a lot of tension on the neck.  Hopefully, I give parents the idea that, if their child (or they) are kind of clumsy, that they should NOT be lugging around a bass!  I end by saying thank-you insert child’s name and greet the next one.  Each string instrument station has at least two and usually three demonstrators but not the bass – I am the only one.  I bring a stool to sit on as much as I can but, by the end of the night, I am completely exhausted.  I have one last IEN tomorrow night.

We took a little get-away trip with Steven, Sarah, and the Southerland family to Nauvoo Friday and Saturday.   

Steven drove the Columbia car and we all got to the Nauvoo Villas at about 8:30 Friday night.  We rented a two-bedroom condo that was connected to a one-bedroom condo so we could fit everyone comfortably (well, poor Steven got the living room sofa-bed so his bed was not so comfy).  

 

After Quinn was put to bed, we played  a fun game - Cranium Hoopla.  

 

We fixed pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast and then we drove in to Nauvoo, starting at the Family Living center (Noah made a rope) 

 

and we took a wagon ride.  

 

 

 

Back to the condo for tacos and, while the kids napped (Joe and Sarah stayed behind), Steven, Emily, Steve, and I attended the temple.  

 

The three o'clock session happened to be a Spanish-speaking one so we all got to wear the headphones and receivers.  Throughout the day, the weather was a teeny bit chilly but the sun was bright and it was a lovely winter day.   And, it was great to have some of the family together.