My two high school daughters had a music recital today, which was very nice. As an encouragement beforehand, the director of the music school said it’s great that all the students had worked hard all year, and prepared nicely for the recital. She said it’s not always easy to practice your instrument, when there are so many activities to choose from. She said that she took a poll of the thirteen music teachers at the school, asking “Have you ever wanted to skip practicing?” She showed a plot much like this one, though it was done on a flip charts with colored construction paper bars:

The director asked what this chart showed. I raised my hand and asked, “Someone’s lying?”

The official interpretation of the chart is simply that almost everyone, even dedicated music instructors, don’t always like to practice. My interpretation is that everyone hates to practice, but some lie about it.

My daughters performed a nice duet of the song ‘Vincent’: the 9th-grader sang while accompanied by the 11th-grader on viola in an arrangement written by the 11th-grader.