An Incredible Opportunity for our Duo

When Eliza’s violin instructor brought to our attention that there are Violin Institutes that students can attend in the summer, we were intrigued.

It took a lot of thought and research to not only see if this was something we wanted to do for Eliza, but if we could do it.

We were looking at a very good Institute in Utah….boy, that overwhelmed me!!

Then we started really leaning into one that was in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, only about 2 1/2 hours away from us.

We had a lot of questions though – could Blake get off work to go along? What about the dogs? What about Tate? How would I eat?

Slowly we began to work out all the details, including a wonderful opportunity for Tate in the same city on the same week!!

There was a Culinary School that offered a daily class for his age – how perfect is that?

God is so cool.

Violin Institute was held at the UW Stevens Point College campus, and had dorms that you could stay in – which we knew would not work for us because of our food needs.

So we booked a spot in the Home 2 Suites, (that the Institute offered a block of spots at) and had a wonderful place to stay where we could eat our three meals a day!

We arrived there during the late afternoon of Sunday July 18th to get Eliza registered and get a tour of the facilities so we knew where to go each day.

Then we headed back to our room to have dinner before going over to the college for a play-in that evening.

By the time that evening was over, we were SO excited for the next day!!

SO many violins in ONE place!!!

Blake and Tate would drop Eliza and I off at Institute in time for Eliza’s first class at 8 a.m. each morning.

Then they would head out to Tate’s school which started at 9 a.m.

Blake and I would text photos back and forth all morning!!

Tate finished his school at noon and then they would eat lunch and join us in the afternoons.

It was so perfect!!

Eliza’s schedule:

8 a.m. Repertoire Class

9 a.m. Practice time

10 a.m. Orchestra class

11 a.m. Elective Art Class

noon Lunch

1 p.m. Practice time

2 p.m. Creative U class

3 p.m. Master Class

I felt like a college student again trying to find our way around – but thankfully all of Eliza’s classes were in the same building!!

Eliza’s all time favorite class was orchestra.

She loved the sight reading component to it, and how different the pieces were than the Suzuki pieces.

Eliza’s least favorite was her Master Class – because she was uncomfortable playing in such a small setting all alone!

She had prepared a book 4 piece for this class, and had to play in front of three other students and their parents, as well as her instructor, Mr. Conklin.

She stood up the first day (below), and said “I am scared to do this! But I am going to do it anyway!”

Her instructor praised her so much for how well she played even though she was playing it scared!!

The master class gave each student a huge opportunity for some one-on-one instruction about their prepared piece from a fresh set of eyes.

I think this class was very valuable!!

Even though it made Eliza nervous to play for a small crowd of strangers!

Each day the students played their piece again, after practicing the things that were mentioned by the instructor the day before.

The first evening, we got to watch a performance by Bryan Hall, Eliza’s orchestra class instructor.

It was SO GOOD!!

And very inspiring for all of the students there!

We soon got into a rhythm how each day would roll – what time we needed to be up, eat, and what we needed to carry to Institute with us.

I will say I wish I had brought warmer clothes!!

College life is a very cold one – those classrooms were freezing!

After Eliza’s last class each day, we got to attend some recitals by the students.

I wish we would have known more about this because we would have had Eliza try out for them!

After the recitals, we would go back to our suite and heat up our dinner in our little but mighty Wonder Oven we took with us.

I had pre-made all of our meals, so they just needed to be reheated.

It was a very smart thing to do, thank you very much, because we did not have much time in between the last day time activity and the evening concerts!

A very nice family saw us taking that selfie (above) and asked if they could take our photo!

I am so glad to have this!

The second evening concert was by another instructor and his wife and it was FANTASTIC!

We enjoyed the evening concerts very much, even though we were so tired by then!

By Wednesday, Eliza and I were very aware that the elective art class that she signed up for was definitely not a class, but more like a Mom setting out some craft supplies.

She decided to skip out on that the rest of the week, which gave us a free window from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Blake came and picked us up those days and took us back to our suite to eat lunch, practice, and re-group.

I was glad to not have to carry our heavy lunch cooler each day anymore.

It was very nice for many reasons, and I think very needed for us both!

We also got to spend more time with Tate this way once he finished his class at noon.

On Wednesday, Eliza’s violin instructor visited Institute as well!

It was SO kind of her to drive all that way and sit in on Eliza’s classes!!

We enjoyed the time we got to spend with her this way very much.

Thursday evening some of the students performed an orchestra for us.

Eliza told us that orchestra was her favorite thing to play!

Friday came SO fast.

We originally were going to stay Friday night and drive back home Saturday, but decided to head home after the Friday night student concert instead.

That meant we had to mostly pack up before heading to Institute that morning, because we had to check out at lunch time.

We had truly brought a week’s worth of stuff!

Friday was going to be a fun day, because it was full of performances that the students had been working on all week!

Eliza got to play an orchestra piece for all us parents in her Orchestra class, she got to play a piece she composed all on her own in her Creative U class, and Friday night she got to be in a performance with ALL of the students in Michelsen Hall.

What a rewarding experience!!

She had SO much fun!