Emma's FIRST violin recital!

Emma has been taking the violin since January and I am so proud of her progress and accomplishments. Most people would not be brave enough or good enough to play in front of a room full of people after only playing for 5 months!! The violin is a difficult instrument to learn. There are a TON of techniques to think about at the same time. Emma has been learning VERY quickly and we absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE her teacher, Sarah Hartman.  She teaches the Suzuki Method, which is the method that I learned on, and I knew I wanted Emma to begin with this method.

Sarah was in our ward in Tempe and we happened to snag one of her spots that had opened up after other students left her studio. We were so excited! Emma practices almost every day for 15-30 minutes and she seems to really enjoy it. She even seems to enjoy practicing most of the time! Amazing!!

Tom and Laura happened to be in town for her recital, so that made it really special for Emma.  We left Grant and Spencer home with a babysitter... and we really enjoyed the recital together.

Aunt Sharron also came which Emma really appreciated!!  Greg bought Emma the purple flowers and she was ECSTATIC.

Here is Emma with her teacher, Sarah Hartman.  Sarah is expecting a baby in September and we are so happy for her!!

For the recital, Emma played the first 8 notes of "Twinkle, Twinkle" with two different rhythms.  All day long, I kept asking her if she was nervous and she said, "no, why should I be"?  But after the recital started, and Emma heard all of the other students, I think she realized that she was not as good as she thought.  She whispered to Greg that she was nervous now because all the other students were better than her.  Poor little thing.  It's a hard life lesson to learn that you are not as wonderful as your parents say you are.  When it came time for her to play, she started crying and didn't want to go up on stage.  I walked her up there and her sweet teacher came on to the stage as well and asked Emma is she would like her to play along.  Emma said yes and the two violinist played the first 8 notes of Twinkle together.  Emma did a great job and was very proud of herself when she sat down.  WHEW!  I thought for a second that she wouldn't perform, but I think her teacher really helped her out of that problem, and I'm hoping that all the rest of her recitals through life will not be as challenging.