Exploring Music

I study the violin. My teacher is Luan. She has been here ten years from Shanghai and is married to a sick old Armenian man.

I teach Luan conversational English and she teaches me conversational violin and Mandarin. She gives me relationship advice but makes me promise not to tell my girlfriend.

I like the Chinese songs she teaches me. They are more fun than the Suzuki, Western (Handel, Vivaldi, Bach) finger-benders. The slides and trills of the Oriental music sooth my nerves. The high notes make my fingers climb the neck and step daintily, taking the body of the violin in my palm. I owe the violin shop all kinds of money for the rental instrument, which I have not paid for in months.

Today, I finished my lesson as the girl after me and her mom looked on. The girl is around 4 years old, with medium brown curls and a 1/10 size violin. They are both very cute. Her dark brown eyes stare at me intently like I'm on trial and she's the judge. I need to play violin to keep from thinking about lawyering all the time.

I played her violin the other day. It was miniature but sounded and looked great. I guess size isn't everything. It depends on how you use it.