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Rebecca ElginAug. 4, 2004 at 1:24 AMSometimes, as a mother, I just can't really fit any real practicing in my day. Today was one of those days. I think I got maybe 30 minutes of playing time. My toddler can keep me so busy! Whereas yesterday I made progress in leaps and bounds, today I only managed to play through pieces I already knew pretty much by heart. Have you ever tried playing the violin with a small child in your lap? She's a climber! I keep telling her when I get a job I will buy her her own tiny violin off ebay, but she would rather play with mine.Usually I warm up by playing pieces that I know well. It gets me in the mood to work on something new since I already played something that sounds good. I wish I could get into scales and etudes. I have etude books, but I only want to play melodies. I think if I want to get any better, I'm going to need to work on those etudes... I just wish I knew how they were supposed to go!
Aug. 2, 2004 at 5:59 PMIt's truly amazing how much change there has been in my playing in the last few months. When I first looked at Vivaldi's Four Seasons, I started laughing out loud because I really thought it was not just above me, but more like it was soaring through the atmosphere. I have been diligent and now I can get completely through Spring and the other seasons are coming along nicely. Since I don't want to get bored, I also started Massenet's Meditation from Thais and Mozart's Concerto No. 3 in G major K216. Both of them sound pretty good. I'm actually getting delusional ans starting to think I may audition at our local semi-professional orchestra, because, why not?The internet is such an amazing source for the musician. I had no idea how much it would help. I have gotten great advice and found so much sheet music that I may never have tried out if it weren't for the web. Some is free and I paid for some, too. Before I did a search on the internet for music I was pretty much just stuck with my old Suzuki books and small amounts of sheet music from my old orchestra (photo copies, of course.) I just wish I had the internet when I was in high school! I may have ended up majoring in music then!
May. 19, 2004 at 5:17 PMIt's been a while since I've written anything here. My violin practicing has really been coming along. I am seeing improvements on a regular basis. I really think I need an instructor, or at least another string player to play with. I want to join a community orchestra. When I go back to work, I think I will join my employer's orchestra. That way I'll at least meet other violinists.
Apr. 27, 2004 at 3:09 PMSo my husband has told the church we've been attending that I play the violin and have been looking at music to play at church. Now there's a way to get me to practice. We're becoming members and e just thought our pastor should be told. I have stage fright. My whole life I thought I'd overcome it and go on to public performances. I'm fine with ensembles ad orchestras, just not solo. So I'm going to have to switch gears and work a little more on the more sacred music I've found and maybe a little less on Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I have a nice arrangement of Handel's For Unto Us a Child is Born and plenty of music by Bach that would be church acceptable, so I'm not worried about finding the music, just playing some in front of two services. Another person in our new members class is a violin teacher! I haven't met very many string players since I've moved out to Minnesota. One of the pathologists I worked with was one and a coworker played viola, but only in the "oh ya, I played viola in high school" sort of way.
Apr. 22, 2004 at 1:48 AMI've been practicing pretty well these past few days. I can get all the way through Vivaldi's Spring now and hit all the notes! This is a major accomplishment for me. There was a time I was afraid I had forgotten everything I learned. It's all coming back to me now!My next step is really working on the intonation of the piece. My fingers are short and 4 sharps is a bit of a stretch! I also need to work on making the double stops sound smooth. Right now I hit all the notes, they are in tune, but I leave quite a break between notes! Practicing has been a bit rough. I have a toddler and she does not like mommy playing the violin. She has a habit of knocking my violin stand over to watch all the sheet music fall to the floor! So, the point of this is that I only really practice while she's napping or after she's gone to bed.
Apr. 19, 2004 at 7:39 PMI've never done a blog before, so here I go... I started the violin 18 years ago in school. I was 9 at the time. I picked the violin as my instrument because it didn't involve any spit. I didn't really take the violin seriously until I was 14, and then maybe I started to take it too seriously... an obsession, maybe? My violin collected a lot of dust while I was in college. I was busy getting my biology degree. I took one music class in college where we did a concert on recorders and viol de gamba's, and we sang a few songs in an all female choir.I have in the past year or so started working on my violin playing again. I practice a couple hours a day now. I'm working on Vivaldi's Four Seasons because I love the music. I just figured out how to play the double-stops in Spring, thanks to my friends at soloviolin.com. I can play them and hit the right notes, but it doesn't sound pretty... actually it sounds kind of ugly, but I'm hoping with enough practice I'll be able to play it smoothly.
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