PPP224: The Practicing Pro, Christy Hodder

Christy’s mother is the hero of her music story. Her mom joined the RCA record club and receive a new album every month. Christy remembers hearing amazing music in her home from a very early age. She attended an orchestra concert with her family and fell in love with the violin and knew that she wanted to learn to play.

Christy’s older sister studied flute in school but after about a year decided she didn’t want to study flute anymore. When Christy announced that she wanted to learn to play the violin her mother told her she had to learn piano first. This was likely a test to see how committed Christy would be (they had a piano and a flute, no need investing in another instrument if the child is going to lose interest after a few months). Christy faithfully studied the piano for a year to prove to her mother that she would practice and stick with it.

The next stop on Christy’s musical journey is at her local elementary school’s violin program. The program was led by a wonderful man, who, unfortunately,  knew more about the trumpet than the violin. Christy was given a violin and a method book and was basically left to her own devices to learn to play.

Christy would climb a tree in her family’s orchard with her book and her violin and would diligently practice. She progressed through the first book on her own and her mother realized that Christy needed more specialized violin instruction.

Now it was Christy’s mother’s turn to face a roadblock.  She investigated to find a qualified teacher from an area music school and took Christy to her home for an audition. While the teacher was impressed with Christy’s playing ability, she didn’t want to take her on as a student.

Christy’s mom was just as diligent as Christy so she negotiated a deal with the teacher to wallpaper her home in exchange for lessons! Well done, Christy’s mom! (everyone has a price)