Guitar Lessons

Eloïse has been asking for guitar lessons on and off for the last year. We finally arranged them and she began last week. She was painfully shy at the first lesson, sticking her fingers in her mouth and clinging to us, not speaking, etc. It bordered on embarrassing. But the teacher had been forewarned and he was really great with her. She actually participated for the second half of the lesson and was very keen to return.

Ian took her to the Spanish guitar shop this morning and bought her a beautiful little guitar that is just her size. Then she had her second lesson this afternoon.

This one was much better. She still didn’t utter a word but her hands weren’t in her mouth and she sat on her own. She did everything he taught her and, to my eye, did it quite well. By the end of the 30-minute lesson he had begun teaching her to read music.

When we got home the guitar came out immediately. She arranged her animals in an attentive position and gave them a concert. She asked me if I wanted to hear the sun (she plucked the highest string), the wind (she strummed across all the strings), the thunder (she knocked on the body of the guitar), or the mouse (she played the strings up at the top of the neck by the tuning pegs). These little analogies were all her own invention. (As an aside, her school certainly has no academic focus at this age but I think it really does foster this sort of imaginative thinking.)

I’ll be eager to see how her enthusiasm holds up to the test of time.