Home, Sick Home

Mary is home today.  She is just a little sick.  Sore throat.  So, lucky for her that means we get to record Minuet Two off and on all day for the Suzuki Association of Minnesota Graduation. The CDs are due postmarked Saturday.  I've got nine to do.  Hers is Book Two.

The first fifty or so attempts she messed up the B section.  Bach is like that.  Then we got a great one and the Garage Band application crashed.  We lost it. In more ways than one. Big tears.  Then another good one and the mics were turned funny.  But, by now it's much easier to get a perfect run-through.  We will try again tonight.

We've have a little-bit-of a heck-of-a-time getting all these audio and video recordings this year.  We are cutting it down to the wire.  That's my fault.  I still have one Gigue left to record this week.  Ominous sanctus recordous goodous.  Let the patron saint of recording be with us.

The elephant in the room is, of course, if it's so dang hard to make the recording, you are probably not ready to graduate.  There I said it.  Go ahead and hate me.

But, I love these kids and I want them to meet their goals.  So sometimes we cut it close.  Sometimes the studio audience is dangerously small.  Sometimes the tempo is not a slam dunk.   It's not the olympic trials here, the point is for the child to grow.  There is growth in fifty failed Minuet Twos.  I'm not even gonna count the K. 330s this year.

And. . . I listen and critique the recordings a little bit differently knowing how hard it might have been to earn them. You just never know what the kids went through to get that seemingly terribly mediocre recording.  I know how easy it was for my son to nail it.  And I know about the fifty Minuet Twos.  So, let's let kindness prevail.  Even if the best we can say is, "I'm so glad you made a recording. . . "