5 Things I’m Loving This Week–July 10, 2015

This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher Blog on July 10, 2015, so some links and resources may not be current.

I hope you had an awesome Fourth of July!  We had a lovely day, we skipped the parades because Bruce worked the night before and I’m a vampire.  (I hate the sun and the heat.  That’s why my skin is translucent.)
We did have a nice BBQ with Bruce’s family, and we can see the fireworks from our house, so it was a super chill fun day.  My favorite.
Now that the holiday is over, it’s back to the studio to teach some violin.  Here are some of the things that I am loving this week.
1.  Bow Hold Buddies are showing up everywhere in my studio.  They work so well for helping little bow hands, and I have found that my students use them for six months to a year, and then they are ready to go!  I think they are a steal as well.  When I think of how many lessons we could spend working on the bow hold, it ends up being probably thousands of dollars, but for about $25 you can skip some of the struggle!

2.  I bought these adorable nail clippers for my students for Christmas.  I thought of them again this week because my students just love them.  It’s so fun to see matching nail clippers in the cases of all my students.  (And it helps them remember to keep their nails short!!)
3.  I love cheap and easy ideas for teaching music theory.  Adding magnets to popsicle sticks and putting them on a cookie sheet is nothing short of brilliant!  Thanks, Steph!
4.  Ever since I saw her performing in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 2010 (which she went on to win!) I have loved Clara Jumi-Kang.  Her technique and expression are impeccable.  There is no recording available on youtube of her winning performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which makes me so sad.  But this performance is pretty marvelous too!

5.  Last but not least, my sweet husband!  Today is actually our fifth anniversary, crazy right?  It seems like yesterday and a million years ago at the same time.  He is such a hard worker, and amazing Daddy to our wild little boys.  I love him more every day.