5 times a day

I think Z's piano teacher was right on target asking Z to practice her songs five times a day. This morning she worked on Showboat and by the fifth time (she chose to play it six) she was playing it almost at the proper speed and had almost no mistakes. By next Tuesday she should be able to do that song and Clock Work really well.

I also had her do her lines for Midsummer Night's Dream five times this morning (the performance is next Thursday) and that really helped too. She has known her lines and then forgot them and then relearned them a couple times since she first was assigned them in November. She still needs to be more confident with her cues though.

One cool thing is that Z does not have stage fright. Sometimes I think it is because she is kind of oblivious to the implications and because she is used to people giving her positive feedback. But it could be that it will never effect her much. We will see. I still get so nervous being on stage and I feel sick to my stomach. But I still love doing musical theatre.

The kids in the production play in the park for a couple hours after rehearsals and today Z played with her "best girl friend" and another older girl, who is ten, and very shy.I really like the dynamics of this group for Z. because the group is so small usually the kids (from age 5 to 13) all play with each other, so no one thinks it is too weird for Z to be playing with 7, 8 or even 10 year olds.

After rehearsals today we met her old bestfriend from preschool for a gymnastics class. I think we are going to try to have weekly classes with them, because since we have moved it has been harder to get together with them. I am convinced this little girl is gifted too although she isn't advanced academically at this point.

Z is spending a lot of time practicing piano these days, at least 40 minutes a day, and maybe an hour. Her teacher did tell me before that Z could be like one of those little prodigy kids if I would only have her practice more. At that point I didn't want to. I still don't really care, I am only having Z practice so much because she wants to and is commited to it herself.

I asked her awhile back why she wants to take piano lessons and she said "Because I want to have that as a talent." So I said "Well then it is up to you to commit yourself to doing what the teacher asks you." I also told her that I think she is talented in piano and I will always help her with her practice. But if it ever gets to the point that she really doesn't want to practice and I am having to nag her to do it... well I don't know what I will do then. I am not totally opposed to forcing her to do somethings just because I want her to them. But so far I have been able to find ways to keep her interested and happy or at least give her a sense of purpose (like doing the laundry.)

I don't want to burn her out on piano but at this point that is not a problem, the more she plays the better she gets and the better she gets the more she likes it.