December 2005

merry x-mas, time to spoil your violin

December 24, 2005 23:52

Merry Christmas folks. I hope you all are having a great holiday. My favorite (non violin) gift this season is a real vampire bat to mount on the wall. No idea where somebody would find a gift like this, but it's very cool.

For myself, I chose to spoil my violin. The violin itself was a gift from myself to myself for this xmas too. But I decided to stick on a new chinrest which matches the electric I have, as well as a new tuning fork, and a mute. I can't seem to figure out how to use the mute though, I'm supposed to attach it behind the bridge, and slide it up to the bridge when I need it, still though, it's weird. It's one of those that you can leave on the violin when not in use. I was using a big rubber grommit one, but I started to get worried about damagine the bridge sliding it on and off, which is why I got the new one.

Okay, now that I've got all these violin parts, I'm going to need a new case to fit it all;) My Birthday is too far away (July), so I think I'll get an early valentines day gift for the violin!

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I've been bad...

December 23, 2005 10:51

I've been bad, and should be spanked. I've gone a week, and have only practiced about an hour. I know the teacher will see it too, especially after the last lesson, where I blew through 4 songs, got sign off to move on. Work has just been a drain trying to gear up for xmas. I hope the teacher understands. I'm trying to learn, really! If santa judged me based on my violin practice in the last week, I'd get coal for sure.

Next week though, I have it off, so I'll practice inbetween learning to program robots for animation. Life is good;)

Oh, the tuning fork, I ordered, should come in today, looking forward to tune by ear.

Barry

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Lessons are fun! ---- Tuning your violin is no fun!

December 19, 2005 06:48

Wow, I'm having so much more fun having lessons rather than the orchestra class. I'm finding I'm progressing much more rapidly too, which is great!

I'm up to the 12th song Suzuki 1, yes, I know, most of you will say, so, those aren't hard, but hey, I'm a late bloomer;)

One thing that I have difficulty with though is tuning. I've been using a guitar tuner, but it hardly picks up any noise from the violin, making a tuning session take about 20 minutes, yuck. Can anyone recommend a good tuner for violin and describe their method for tuning? I've seen a few that clip onto the violin bridge, and that makes sense, but which do you like? I'm leaning toward either Korg or Seiko only because I own a few Korg and Seiko things they have worked flawlessly. Anyway, let me know which you prefer.

Barry

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tonights lesson

December 10, 2005 01:03

Wow, I'm so happy I started private lessons. I'm approaching the violin from a totally different perspective and already playing better, and faster. I didn't need to have my violin or bow taped, which makes me happy. I guess I don't totally suck. The teacher asked me if I remember what piece was the most advanced I used to play as a child. I didn't remember, but I told him, I had really good vibratto. He said, I'd probably have that vibratto back in about 3-4 months. Yippie! Nothing like that kind of high.

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today is the day

December 9, 2005 09:18

finally i'm going to my new private lessons tonight. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I'm so hoping that I start playing more fun things too. btw, the "All for Strings" books are incredibly boring! That's what we used in the orchestra class, and sheesh!

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found a new teacher

December 3, 2005 13:43

I found a new teacher and start this Friday. I look forward to it. I'll be doing the Suzuki method, which I know a few people cringe at, but it'll get me up to speed quickly, so I'm looking forward to it. He's been teaching over 20 years, so that'll help for me too I'm sure. I look forward to progressing through the Suzuki books as fast as I can. Hello Vibratto, have you found your way home yet?

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More entries: January 2006 • November 2005