I worried terribly all day the sounds that came from her particular violin weren’t those I recognized as violin sounds but rather, sounds I had never heard in my life. If only we could re-name her violin some other more obscure instrument, perhaps the audience would be fooled.

Ellie however was not shy about performing.

At home, she gathered us all into the living room and acted as both her own emcee as well as the leading act.

Ellie: Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, please turn off any cell phones or recording devices.

When she “played” the violin in front of the audience, once again, I found myself getting choked up. Not from the stale cracker platter, from watching my child stand with confidence holding an instrument everyone said she was too young and inexperienced to play and she gave it her best shot. As a parent, that’s always something to be proud of.

Hanna’s class would be performing Deck The Halls on the piano as a group. Each with his/her own keyboard, Hanna had strategically placed herself in the upper row, far corner and given herself plenty of time to switch the volume on the keyboard to “off.” I was also proud of Hanna’s miming act, mostly because I knew she had practiced her song and could play it in her sleep but opted, in the true spirit of giving, not to steal anyone else’s thunder.

This was perhaps a better approach than the student who played the song with sound, as though they were part of a high speed dubbing experiment, finishing three minutes before the rest of the crew had completed the first note.