I almost quit playing this spring, you may have wondered what happened to me it’s been a while since my last post. But I’d like to thank Anne for her support and encouragement. I’d especially like to thank her for turning me on to this incredible song. I just love it, it got me playing again. I want to learn to play this really well I told my instructor a few weeks ago. She said okay… pretend you’re a violinist and play it with feeling. Easier said than done. While this is no where near the justice I plan to give to this song it is a start, a tune to mark my progress. For I’ll be practicing this one til I can play it as well as it was played as the sound track to Ken Burns’ The Civil War series on PBS. The version by Evan Stover, Jay Ungar, Matt Glaser, Molly Mason & Russ Barenberg is beautiful. My next post of this tune will be played along with the song. I plan on getting a better microphone to record the sound as I play along with it. I tried it for this post but the feedback was so bad I decided to stay with Photo Booth. So, for all us adult beginners out there when you think you’ve taken the learning curve as far as you can or you get discouraged and want to quit get a great song that stirs you passion to stick with it.

Many hours are spent alone practicing and a great way to experience playing with another violinist, especially a patient violinist, is to play with a play-along cd. There are so many to choose from. My first lesson book, Essential Elements 2000 came with a cd. While slightly horrified the first time I tried to keep up with the cd I found it really improved my playing. They are wonderful tools for improving your tempo, playing by ear and generally just to keep the tune going even if you make a few mistakes along the way. All lessons we need to learn if we’re ever going to play with other musicians. Here’s an example of me playing along one of the tunes from Mel Bay’s Easy Fiddle Solos cds, a little painful to watch but you get the idea. You can find this book and others at http://www.melbay.com/

You can post your video on youtube, easy to set up a free account, send me the link and a paragraph of what inspired you and I’ll invite you to play here “on stage” at Carnegie Blog… so much fun!!!

Contact bunnyhillsv@mac.com

I am passionate about living and when I turned 57 my husband gave me a bottle of Heinz 57 sauce and it struck me that doing 57 variety of things during that year would be a fun challenge. So I asked Mamie Dixon, retired high school orchestra teacher to give me lessons. And I have been practicing and playing ever since; I am 61. But before you think ‘oh my goodness ,4 years ,she must be good, I am an overachiever, try many things, flighty, can’t sit still except for a movie, and I really do not practice consistently. When I saw your blog about about not practicing, I instantly connected and thought ” there is a kindred spirit”. I have been married to my high school senior year boyfriend for 39.33 years and I have been a math teacher/instructor for 39.33 years,too. I did 18 years of high school teaching and now am in my 22rd year of college, East Carolina University. Other hats I wear are mom hat to 3 adult sons, mother in law to 3 beautiful young women, grannie annie to 4 grankids, caregiver to 2 dachsunds (Ozzie & Harriet), sister to older brother, Bible studies teacher Christian at a Methodidt church, facebook member, bicycle rider, ballroom dancer, tap dancer, zumba aerobics, beginner crochet, collect water colors of favorite artists, collect dolls esp Shirley Temple, and scrapbooker/historian for my family, been on a few mission trips and I love to travel.

I decided to take violin lessons because I have my Dad’s old fiddle. He played every stringed instrument and also the accordian. My favorite tunes he played were Red Wing, Soldier’s Joy, and You are my sunshine. I played clarinet in 5th-10 th grades and tried piano for 3 years in my mid 30’s. I have a good ear but I am not a relaxed person. I prefer to learn by ear/memorize but can read music too.
I take yoga sporadically but when I do it helps me to limber up.

Time to have some fun playing. Too many exercises and scales can make for a dull learning experience !!! One of my musician friends, Estes, introduced me to some simple and popular tunes. Tunes he plays at weddings and in barrooms. He’s a guitar player and it was so nice of him to offer to play with me. I have found that I’m a nervous site reader and need time on my own to go through a tune before I can play with someone else. So this is one of those songs, practiced many times on my own. That’s my dog Buddha, a Pug, I can always tell how well I’m playing if he sticks around for a listen. Ah, Yeah, he’s left the room many times.

I didn’t select my first violin. When I went to our local music store I took the one they had on hand for a student violinist. It was new and certainly all I really needed in the beginning. As I got deeper into playing more difficult finger patterns I also got discouraged with the strings. They seemed just to hard to play. Dropping that pinky down and stretching it to reach the note was so difficult. I almost didn’t even want to pick the violin up to practice, I had reached a low point with this adventure. Almost a year has gone by and it was time for an upgrade.

So I traveled to the “big” music store to try out a new setup. I tried five different violins and bows. Playing the same song on each. Interesting, never did that before. It was as they say “love at first sight”. I had asked others about choosing a violin and often they would say you just know when it’s right. This one is right. The sound, the fit, the way it balances on my shoulder and rests in my hand felt like it was made for me. It came with Dominant strings, much easier to play. I can play for hours without discomfort, amazing. It’s an AmatiStill not sure about the bow, may have to go back but this set up is a major improvement. Do I sound different? Maybe a little.

New teacher, one of my orchestra mates, Pat Robinson. Very talented lady, dancer, artist and picture framer. I’ve know her for years but had no idea she played music. The first lesson went well, getting acquainted with each others style and my level of skill. Had to laugh though. She said, well as an adult beginner we can scratch off the goal of thinking we’re headed to Carnegie Hall. What? Are you kidding? Darn there goes my dream.

Second lesson with Pat went well too, her advise… play like a violinist, with confidence like you know what you’re doing. A kind of “fake it til ya make it” thing. Okay I like that.

I thought I’d share one of my practice sessions with you. Certainly not intended to teach. When I practice I try to cover scales, playing songs and practice the book lessons set out by my teacher. I play for an hour or more and when when I’m a good student I play daily. This video runs for about 8 minutes

Excuse #1 I moved my business. I realize I’m not going to make a living as a rock star so I have to keep my “real” job going and moving to a new and improved location has got me re-enthused about my career.

Excuse #2 I miss the acoustics of the practice room in Mexico. It’s possible something happened to the violin after flying with it to a foreign country. But I sound terrible. Maybe I sound terrible because I’m not practicing as much as I should.

Excuse #3 Can’t afford the lessons right now with a son in first year college and moving.

Excuse #4 Probably the main reason I’m not practicing is I miss the progression of the lessons. I’m playing the same things over and over. Same songs, scales and exercises. There are improvements in my physical ability to play but I’m bored. I know they say repetition is important and I agree but having something new to work on is fun and makes me want to practice. I could move forward in the lesson book by myself but hearing the exercises helps me read the music. Kind of backwards but it works for me. That’s a topic for another post.

But life is slowly getting back on track and I’m going to call my teacher and schedule a lesson for next Saturday. I know he’s going to be hard on me for not practicing and I deserve it. It’s time to get back at it even if the lessons are every other week for now. I love playing.

I think it’s time to post a new video too. Hmm…

My Pug Buddha, 17″ Mac Computer and violin has to be the oddest carryon I’ve ever had. But it worked, we’re here at our palapa. For those unfamiliar with palapas, it’s an open space covered with a palm leaf roof. We fortunately have two closed in bedrooms, perfect to practice in. In fact the acoustics in this cemented room with stone tile floor is pretty cool. I was so concerned with disturbing the peace of the neighborhood when I discovered our neighbors are musicians too. A young man practices drums to American rock and roll, got to love that and he’s pretty good and a woman behind us is, you’re not going to believe this, learning to play the violin. Ha! Unbelievable there must be something going on with so many learning to play music now. Maybe it was always there and never noticed but needless to say my practicing even with the windows open isn’t a problem in this neighborhood.

Our conductor gave a little speech thanking all for coming and encouraging anyone, any age, any level of expertise to join the Wood River Orchestra. He mention me as an example of a newcomer participating only after playing for a month. I laughingly corrected him that it’s actually been 6 months. None the less if I can inspire someone to “go for it” so be it. It’s been great for me.

Our little town has so many talented residents. We may be known for our skiers but there are many artists and musicians living and visiting here. Our Wood River Orchestra is a group of amatures of all ages who play together and occasionally perform. I got a call from one of the members to join in and when my teacher gave his approval I went for it. Needless to say my degree of participation is really limited but what a welcoming group. “Sitting In” is really fun and what a new experience. They’re practicing for a Christmas show and while Jingle Bells is on the list it’s not the Jingle Bells I know. Many of the Carols are relatively easy to play but I’m playing harmony so I can’t rely on the melody. I asked Ron to play and record the Carols for me to practice with so I can at least hear what they’re SUPPOSED to sound like. Will I join in on the actual performance, not sure yet. I’d hate to bring them down though I could play with an unrosened bow that makes no sound. But that would be cheating, I’ll keep practicing as if I’ll play though.

My teacher has an uncanny ability to choose to play pieces I haven’t practiced all week. But this duet went pretty well. This does force me to rise the occasion and focus. We played quit a few songs together and worked on left hand finger placement. I have a hard time keeping “helper” fingers down to guide the placement of the next note which in turn keeps me in tune. We also worked on bowing, using the whole or just upper or lower bow. Having the bow in the right place is important for a lot of reasons but today it was for holding three or four counts. You can hear him coaching me to use “whole bow”. It’s ridiculously complicated and on top of that you have to remember to breath and oh yeah stay relaxed.