it got complicated quick as I wanted some variety. My team scores he has to bow the scale. If his team scores he gets to pluck it guitar style. A field goal meant he had to only do the arpeggio. At the end of each quarter he had to practice bowing open strings, at half time he practiced his left hand fingering to the metronome until he was perfect at 120 bpm, started at 80 bpm. lol. He played alot more than he probably thought he was gonna. By the end of the football game he was really good and accurate at 80 bpm with arpeggio so he was excited and happy, bragging to his older sister when she came to pick him up at 6pm. No school on Wed so I wont see them again for two weeks.

Finally my son has brought his violin with him this weekend. So saturday was garage sale day and it was 8 am and he was excited to help. He has always been a cheerful, helpful bundle of energy! So while we were hangin out waiting for browsers, he was playing on his electronic gadget. So I asked him to go get his violin and play the G scale for me and I promised I wouldnt critique or help. So he got it and scratched out the scale. I said thats great now put it away and that was that, or so he thought. In an hour, I leaned over to him as asked if I could show him two of the smallest adjustments to his techniques that would make him sound better. He thought that would be ok, I also offered to rosin his bow for him since it didnt seem to have a trace on it. lol. So while he once again began to bow the scale, I put my hand up against his elbow so he could bow straight and encouraged him to pull and push with longer bow strokes. When we were done I pointed out his wrist flexibility seemed better, didnt he agree? He nodded. I also asked him if he thought he sounded better, he agreed again. I told him I thought he did great and had him put it away. An hour later, between talking with shoppers and promoting giving lessons, I asked him to get it out again. He's beginning to notice a pattern. By the time we were done, 5 hours had gone by and hed accumulated 20 min of practice time. His bowing and intonation had improved and He could use good form without my assistance. I read in the suzuki book that small children benefit from this type of practice, small manageable chunks. I thought that at 11 my son was old enough to have regular practice times, 30 min at a shot. The good news is I have  unlocked another secret to getting him to practice, the bad news is....I dont get to encourage him daily. We are "still eating the Elephant, one bite at a time".