Visit to Parikrma School in Bangalore

I've been remiss in writing - yesterday I returned home after a week in India. I spent the week in Bangalore for work. The best part was the last day, where we volunteered at a school that serves the poorest children in the slums of Bangalore. It was an amazing experience that made me ashamed of how much we take for granted at home and disgusted with how students in the US squander the opportunities in front of them.

Parikrma has 850 children in 4 schools. They have diverse backgrounds but common stories include abuse, neglect, lack of food and medical care. The school feeds them, provides medical care and outreach programs into their communities, and supports them through university if they pass the entrance exams. The school has 96% attendance and 100% attendance for parent-teacher conferences. The children take a demanding curriculum that includes English and university preparation classes. What impressed me the most was that the children are also transforming their communities: the director told us stories of parents who came for their conferences and signed the report cards with a thumbprint, but over time started initialing and then writing their names, thanks to their child's tutoring.

I was assigned to the kindergarten class with 2 of my colleagues. The classroom held 30 kids and 2 teachers. The kids sat on the floor in designated spots - no desks. They were happy, cheerful, and completely engaged with as we shared songs, asked them to spell, and told stories.







Other colleagues were assigned to other classes. We all agreed at the end of the trip (a long week at work) that the visit to the school was the highlight of a busy week.

Happy New Year!

I added up my practice hours in 2010 and it totaled 561 hours. It is almost the same number of hours as last year! I was pretty happy because I traveled so much more this year - nearly 120 days - taking out nearly 4 months of practice time. Each year I've set a goal of averaging an hour a day for the year. Maybe this year I could try to break 600 hours, which would be a worthy stretch goal.

I looked back at the year and am happy with my progress and am looking forward to next year. Some of skills I'd like to improve this year:
--better vibrato. My teacher called the current state of my vibrato "acceptable for ensemble playing" but I'd like to get more of a "solo vibrato" and be able to keep it going.
--a singing line more often. One of the biggest improvements I made this year was that sometimes I can actually hear phrasing and a musical line. I'd like to turn that "sometimes" into "most of the time"
--control the volume. Would love to control those crescendos and decrescendos!

My Dungey cello is starting to develop a wonderful tone as it goes through its terrible twos - in February it will be 2 years old. In early December I was able to see Christopher and have him do some overdue work on the cello. I met him at the house of Ken Finch, a member of the Portland Symphony and owner of an older Dungey cello. I asked for and got a lesson from Ken! It was very exciting to play for him and get his encouragement and tips on what I could do better. I also got to hear him play my cello. He was loathe to give up both my cello and my bow :-) He's agreed to give me additional lessons if I make it down to Portland again!

So here's to 2011 and happy new year to all!