Antonio Panda Vivaldi

As mentioned earlier, our young Panda fell in love with Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi on YouTube this past August. Apparently, this wasn't just a phase. He has continued with his love of all things Vivaldi consistently for the past few months. Vivaldi's Four Seasons is all he wants to listen to in the car, all he wants to watch on T.V., and usually his game of choice during playtime. He has a unique gift for turning anything within a few feet's radius into a violin - Lincoln logs, books, markers...and he plays with such gusto!

It was at our church's coffee sale when he sat out front playing a coffee bag with a Lincoln log that we decided we needed to give in. This was happening. It is an interest that is obviously here to stay for at least a little while. Time to figure out the next step...

It looks like he needs a cup out front for donations! Ha!

So the following week I took him by a local violin shop and asked them what they suggested, expecting some concert times and dates we could go watch an orchestra. Instead, they recommended lessons. Apparently Panda isn't too young to begin violin lessons, and they actually make violins small enough for him to rent. Who knew? I walked out of the shop with a list of violin instructors in our area and an incredibly happy Panda.

After a few phone calls and a meeting with an instructor, we rented an impossibly small violin and have received our homework leading up to his first lesson. You cannot begin to imagine his elation. He has been having trouble sleeping knowing his very own violin is downstairs waiting for him. The instructor has asked us not to touch the bow yet, so he just takes the violin out of its case and holds it, pretending to play it with an imaginary bow, for hours. It is just the sweetest thing!

We will see how his love for the violin plays out over the next few months. Perhaps after learning how much work an instrument takes he will be ready to move on to something else. Perhaps his violin-love goes deeper than any of us expected. Either way, a few months of lessons seems like a good move at this point. Plus, one thing he has mentioned in his enthusiasm is how pleased he is to have something that is all his.  No one else in the family plays the violin.  He has made it clear that he will be the only one receiving lessons and how willing he is to teach the rest of us if we would like. It seems the student has longed to become the teacher for a while now! I love watching his confidence build even before we have begun.

I'm excited to see him stretch himself and be challenged. Plus, come on, he's seriously the cutest!! I melt every time he picks up the violin and begins his pretend concert! Best music I've ever heard.