Julianne's UIL flute solo competition

Today Julianne had her first solo UIL flute contest. She was worried and nervous and scared and didn't want to do it. I told her she did not have to do it, but that she did have to prepare for it like she was doing it. When she realized that she had to have an accompanist perform with her and she had to pay her teacher ahead of time to prepare the music she told the teacher that her mother would accompany her (that way her teacher would continue to help her prepare thinking she would participate in the competition) and yet in Julianne's mind it meant that she could still prepare for it and then NOT do the competition. She (reluctantly) brought home the music. She (reluctantly) practiced it with me 2 or 3 times. She (very reluctantly) played it for Baba via a facetime call. And each little step ensure that she really was prepared for it. They announced the competition times and she came home to have me call the band teacher to remove her from the list and that is when I started negotiating.

"Sweetie, you really can do this."

"You've played it already in front of your family -- the worst possible critics in the world!"

"What would sweeten the deal for you so that you would want to do it?"

Finally we decided that a $15 itunes gift card would be a great reward. And so she and I played together and she did wonderful. I am so glad I got to accompany her (because then I could be in the private judging room with her). It was awesome to see her perform. It was worth the gift card (and it still was a lot cheaper than paying an accompanist). And . . . she said going forward she'd do them all if I did them with her.