Fiddlin' Round

Filming of the first few scenes is almost over. I play Mrs. Haack, and I get to fiddle around on my violin that I am learning to play! Srajana will be possibly using some of her own fiddle pieces for background music. She was thinking of the Lough Gill, an Irish jig. She won fifth in the fiddle contest in town the other day and she also won a beautiful, gorgeous violin. I'm not great at the violin. Right now I'm learning a minuet by Bach. Srajana fiddles and she is working on a Kuchler Concertino and a Vivaldi G Minor Concerto. Her friend is playing Mozart!
But anyways, I was sewing and the machine kept getting stuck. Srajana fixed it, but then said she would not help again. So I sewed a bit more and the machine was stuck once more, so I was annoyed and came upstairs to blog. Oh-well. I'll try again later.
So.......this is what I've been doing the whole summer.
1. Taking boat rides.
2. Sketching pictures of my home from the outside when I went to visit my family.
3. Going to camp.
4. Visiting farms.
5. Filming.
This evening, Sonali and I will take a walk and record all the sounds outside. It'll be so cool!
Neela

Ecuador

Kaya is now in Ecuador. She is going to Galapagos National Park today, and is very excited. She said it's a nice change after the bustling city of Copenhagen. Next, she will be going to Fiji, and can't wait.
I am busy practicing my flute, but I have been taken more and more interest in the piano and violin. At our school, we are required to take music, so Neela takes singing and plays the ekdara, Julie plays the drums, Rebecca sings, Ruthie plays violin and a little flute, I play flute and a little piano, Felicity plays guitar and sings a little, Gwen plays the harp mostly and violin sometimes, and Kaya played the drums. Julie was very reluctant to share her drum set, so Kaya decided to play the timpani. And she is very good at it! Ruthie was practicing a tarantella the other day on her violin, and I just listened, dazed by the material of the piece.
I sat down at the piano, and played the hardest piece I KNEW. It was the the famous Bach minuet that every pianist can play if they have been playing more than two years. I'm not very good. Srajana's friend E. can play Cat and Mouse by Aaron Copland. She just started, but she is at a flying speed! She says she needs to work on it at least the whole summer! Wow!
In the evening, I worked on my summer homework. It was to write a gavotte or tarantella. I decided to make a gavotte, because they are generally shorter, and easier to play, so they must be easier to write, right? But no! The notes float in my head easily, but I can't remember what the octaves and rhythms are at all! Oh-well.
Sonali

Quick Update!

Guess what? Our school is putting on a musical! It has not been announced yet, but we're all excited! Especially me, of course. Also........um......yeah, that was a quick update. I bought a new violin bag for Ruthie, who plays the violin, for her birthday. She really liked it. It's green and white with a light brown leather handle. It's pretty cute! Well bye, and a happy weekend! Don't forget to check out the photo contest three posts back!
~Rebecca

Saving Up

Srujana is now officially trying to save up to buy a Just Like You, number 12 on the online page, or Kit. She has $133, but she is trying to save that up for something else, so for a doll, she has $13. She's working hard, she helped train her sisters book club for a competition and helped her practice violin. She does not know what else to do. She is not really allowed to get a job, since she's too young or something along the lines of that. Any ideas?
Anyways, today was Ruthie's birthday! We hung up birthday streamers and sat her in the folding chair and sang "Happy Birthday to You!"
I gave Ruthie a scrap of red wrapping paper with glittery pink flowers all rolled up around a bracelet. Ruthie is basically my second best friend here, after Gwen. I will put up pictures some time in February, because the camera is working on and off.
~Sonali