he asked for a teacher, so steve found someone who is patient, modifies techniques and lessons to meet students' individual needs, and geographically close. steve is ander's primary coach (mom is a pinch hitter backup assistant coach in times of need) and attends every lesson and supervises every daily at-home practice session.
it may be some time before ander gets to work on stravinsky's firebird phrasing - which is what he really, really wants to play - so it's a lot of twinkle, twinkle, little star and hot cross buns in a multitude of rhythms. his teacher was impressed with ander's pitch (he's got relative pitch and maybe absolute pitch), which she says will make it easier for him to tune accurately but for now frustrates him when he's trying to move smoothly and continuously from one note to another. he's dedicated, though, and works diligently on the fingering and bowing and improves his technique and sound every time he practices.
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| photo courtesy of his dad |
he even signed up to be in the school orchestra next year!