5 Things I’m Loving This Week–June 12, 2015

This blog post was originally posted on the Plucky Violin Teacher site on June 12, 2015, so links and resources may not be current.

This week was my first full week back from my maternity leave.

I taught a couple lessons last week because one of my substitute teachers was out of town, but this week is my true return to the studio.

I’m not going to lie, I was really dreading coming back to teaching.  Two babies is pretty awesome and overwhelming, and I was nervous about leaving my sweet two month old.  Then a few weeks ago, I started planning our studio’s upcoming activities and goals, and I got super pumped!  Now I am really excited and happy to be back.  It has been so fun to see my students again, and having a few babies-free hours each day is nice too!

As I have said before, I am a total geek.  Violin geek, mostly.  So I wanted to share the things that have inspired and motivated me this week.  Maybe there will be something that will inspire and motivate you, or just put a smile on your face!

Here are Five Things I’m Loving This Week:

1.  This amazing post from Bulletproof Musician about the habits of great artist-teachers. Go read it.  I’ll wait…Pretty great stuff, right?  I was especially inspired by #4 and #5.  These are things I really struggle with, as it’s hard for me to focus on just ONE technique problem, but I think keeping these things in mind will help me to pick the right one and stick with it.

2.  This pretty fantastic performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Ray Chen and Kent Nagano conducting the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.  His playing is just fantastic, and the expressions on his face are just hilarious.

3.  I know I have a whole post on this, but I’m still kind of going crazy over Memrise.

4.  As you may know, Mimi Zweig is one of my main muses, so I really enjoyed watching this masterclass.  What she says about the thumb at minute 3:43 made right hand thumb position so much clearer in my mind, I am going to be checking all my students thumbs now!  (And revamping my own right hand position!)

5.  Last, but most definitely not least, my sweet boys!!  Milo has been running around the house singing “The Bare Necessities” on a loop, and Graham has started laughing.  He is very ticklish.

Life’s good, everybody!  Smile, play (violin), and have a great day!

​What’s inspiring you these days?  Have suggestions for staying motivated?  Please share!