@stringy Thank you. IT really is hard for him but when he likes something, he practices and practices and.......He is also working on Czardas for his competition piece as well and talk about tough for him. But because it is a special song, personally because of his great grandfather, he is bound and determined to do it.

LOL. we both watched it, it took us a second to figure it out but once we did, we both laughed. Thank you for the kind words by the way

@stringy I agree. Just watching his video from 6 months ago is really weird. I am forever grateful that somehow he has "kept the faith" and is still interested in the violin. The last child of the last generation and he was the only hope to keep the family violin and legacy going. So thankful each day.

@stringy I am absolutely not ashamed to admit that even though I was first chair at his age in the school orchestra, I was no nearly as good as he is now. Not even close. Of course , having played since I was 6, my father was old school and was quite strict with me. When I turned 8.  I was the student of the first chair of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and a friend of my fathers. Her name was Mrs. McKenney and she was a beast I just remember that it wasnt enjoyable for me at all and because of that lack of motivation, I wasnt enjoying it as much as Thomas is now. I learned from that and am very VERY complimentary, patient and non pushy with him. It really does make a world of difference. That is why Lynn, Thomases former teacher, is no longer with him because Thomas was never looking forward to going to her lessons each week. Although she kept saying she was always forgetting he was only 11, that doesnt mean she had to be so strict, never smile or compliment and always had something negative to say in front of him. Times have changed and so shouldnt teaching. you can be the best violinist in the world, but if you have no personality or "honey", the bees wont come to you. I do truly believe Thomas excels because I don't push him and there isnt a drop of vinegar anywhere in the room when we practice, yet I push him in ways he doesnt know.

@ELCBK That was very kind of you, thank you Emily. (I also wanted to tell you that I have to remind Thomas that your name is Emily because he always refers to you as elcbk, hahahaha. we both laugh over that. 

I will be posting his very first practice of Czardas. A piece that my grandfather played(his great grandfather)for an audition tape he made back in 1963. I play it all the time for Thomas and his favorite song is Czardas, so he chose that to win(hopefully win)his first competition this spring. We are practicing it slowly and going one page at a time. It was his idea actually to record it so I did today. I will post it tomorrow. You can tell it just means so much to him in the video.