Viola?!

I have a violin student who started lessons in August.  She is just 7 years old this month, and had been asking for violin lessons for a long time (I think her mom said two years) before she started.  I'm sure she is my most enthusiastic student, and that says a lot because I am very lucky to have a studio full of mostly happy and dedicated students at the moment.  I wish there were a way to capture the delight on her face when she gets to learn something new, but photos and videos wouldn't even do her justice.

This week she practiced a significant amount, and recorded it in her practice log.  It ranged from 30 minutes to 54 minutes.  (And 54 minutes of Twinkle and Lightly Row is really something!) This is a girl after my own heart.  When I was young, I had to record the exact number of minutes I practiced--even doing 20 extra seconds to make it so I could round up to the next minute.  I told her that I was like that (and apologized to her mom, because this kind of tendency can make a person a little nutty, and I'm pretty sure I drove my mom crazy!), and she replied talking fast and barely taking time to breathe,"I just kept playing and playing.  I didn't want to stop.  I love the violin so much--I want to play it for my entire life!  But I also want to play the viola."

I looked at her mom.

"Does she know I am a violist?"

I said to my student "Do you know what a viola is?  Most people around here aren't so familiar with it.  How do you know?"

My student said "I heard it on the radio, and I thought 'Hey that's not a violin. And that's not a cello, it must be a viola.'"

She seemed to be waiting to know if that was something she could do, to play both violin and viola.  I told her that was certainly possible. 

What a gem!  This is one of those lessons to remember for all time.  I have to save it for a rainy day.
My mother says that some people are just born happy.  So it seems!  I wish I could bottle her enthusiasm.