Ok, here is a little about the last Singapore International String Conference. It was in 2006, and was at Methodist Girls School, at Blackmore Drive. Quite a few professors were invited from the US. The "star" of the group is Terry Durbin. He was the funniest of them all. And he has tons of patience. He can conduct a class of rowdy children, and can get all of their attention.

We are inviting him this time, too. If for no other reason, I look for to attend his classes, if only to see and learn how to get and sustain the attention of the children.

What happened last time was that I learnt quite a few technique of teaching from these professors. The first few lessons after that, I was spending a lot of time and attention on the postures, violin-hold, and bow-hold. I am not sure if the students felt bored with those lessons, though. After all, they didn't get to play as much, but trying to change bow-hold, or violin positions.

Well, a few students did get to be more interested in playing the violin after attending the String Conference. However, I was not able to sustain their interest for long. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details... but details can get tedious a lot of the time. And the challenge is to sustain the interests, despite the work on details.