http://www.violinist.com/blog/littletimebomb/ Jessica Paesel's weblog on Violinist.com. en-us © Jessica Paesel http://www.violinist.com/blog/littletimebomb/20097/10322/ i have 5 days off of work coming up w/ absolutely no obligations, aside from those i gave myself to a) workout as much as possible (i am taking up running, so i'm currently working on building my endurance) and b) practice violin as often as possible. i feel as if i have been struggling during my practices in terms of technique. my teacher provides a lot of great insight and is able to help me with things like intonation and posture while i'm there for my lesson. however, i start to over-obsess when i practice about sounding perfect all the time and i think it makes me sound WORSE because i get to the point where i can't simply relax and play. i know i can overcome it but it definitely is a challenge for me at this current time. anyone have any tips on how to relax and "let go" during practice (aside from just doing it hahaha)? also i've been wanting to read a good book for violin students regarding theory and/or technique. any suggestions? i've browsed a bit on amazon but have no idea what the best choices are. Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:43:05 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/littletimebomb/20097/10303/ i'm officially into my second full month of lessons. the first month was great, simple, but gave me enough confidence to want to continue forward. according to my teacher, she's happy that my sight reading of music is up to par and she can see that i'm able to pick up songs quickly (we are currently using suzuki book 1 along with exercises she has added in herself), so going forward she's going to get very picky about my sound and technique. this is excellent, as i want to continuously improve, but it's proving to be a tough change for me to have so much to focus on at once (yes i have heard and known that violin requires multi-focusing as such, but to actually put it into practice 100% is a bit different)...i'm a perfectionist by nature, so to know that i DO have a lot to work on in terms of actually sounding good and having a nice technique is something i've had to embrace and not consider a failure/shortcoming on my behalf. my practicing has taken on a whole new feeling because i don't fly through each practice with ease, it's become frustrating at times. typically at this point in learning something new, i would just quit to avoid failure. but last night i decided violin is too important to just quit because i'm frustrated (not that i'm even close to considering quitting, BUT i know how i am and i don't want the frustration to reach that point)...so i sort of had an entirely different frame of mind when i sat down to practice. i even moved my chair and music stand w/in my room so that i have no visual or spatial distractions. i really slowed down my pace when working on my a major and d major scales, and did them with my eyes closed (my biggest thing is to get away from staring at the neck of the violin, my teacher really doesn't want me to look @ my fingertapes anymore and i have a feeling she's going to have me get rid of them soon anyway now that i'm almost through all the notes in first position)...i thought the results would be horrendous. instead, i found myself 100% more focused than ever, and doing scales with my eyes shut honestly did help. after running through scales a few times in this manner, i went back to the two newest songs i learned ("may song" and "long, long ago" from suzuki book 1) and i swear this time the scales helped. really helped. before i ran through them quickly, simply as a warmup required by my teacher, not even connecting how they'd help with the actual music. this time, i was able to really HIT the notes when i played the songs i just learned on monday. yes this is a beginner's epiphany (= wow, scales do really help!) but i suppose worth documenting since i'm sitting here blogging about it! Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:34:14 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/littletimebomb/20096/10235/ i spent my third week of violin lessons learning my first song, twinkle twinkle little star (i'm in the big leagues now, right? haha gotta start somewhere!)...what i'm loving most about violin is how much learning and excitiement it can open up in a matter of mere minutes. my teacher put a few tapes on my fingerboard to help get me started, but before she had me play using the tapes as a guide, she had me play twinkle twinkle on HER violin without tapes, just attempting by ear, as she placed the tapes on my own violin. needless to say i was terrified and expecting to squeak out something awful. while my first attempt was far from perfect, i was pleasantly surprised at what came out, and my teacher was really happy with how close i came, she said i have a really good natural ear, which makes her confident that i will start flying through suzuki book 1. after my tapes were placed, we played all variations of the song together, and all of the seemingly frustrating rhythm exercises that i was given last week as practice ended up really helping me...i was able to keep up w/ my teacher throughout, and again, though my intonation was far from perfect, i feel like i'm already picking up what the right notes sound and feel like. i left my lesson feeling very uplifted, and it only got better when i left the studio and headed to my car...a random woman with her little girl stopped me. i thought she was going to ask me for directions, but then she asked if that was me inside the music studio playing violin. when i told her yes, she explained that she was picking her daughter up from summer music camp and ended up watching and listening to me play for a bit (i am glad i was in the zone and didn't notice anyone looking in to listen or i would have probably frozen up)...i asked her whether the sounds she heard were good or sickening, and to my surprise, she said "absolutely NOT bad, you sounded beautiful!" she about fell over when i told her i'd only been playing for three weeks, and i about fell over to hear that this random complete stranger thought i was good enough to stop me on the street and ask me questions. she ended up telling me how they have a violin at home which thus far has only been utilized as a beautiful wall hanging, but that she was thinking of getting her 10 year old son set up for lessons, did i think it'd be a good idea or too hard for him? i told her that if i'm an adult with 937489210 other things in life to focus on and i am capable of learning, then she should definitely give it a shot with her son! the entire conversation just blew me away. i had a horrendous day at work previous to my lesson, and by the time i got into my car after the lesson, i felt like flying! obviously this is only the beginning and i'm expecting for there to be frustrating moments on top of the rewarding moments, but my experience so far has proven to me that every reward that comes from playing more than makes up for any frustrations i've had/will have. Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:47:36 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/littletimebomb/20096/10225/ so things in my world have been pretty spectacular. it's really strange (yet awesome) how motivation in one aspect of your life creates momentum and you become more motivated all-around. the desire to play violin caused me to go completely outside of my box (learning something new as an adult? allowing myself to be labeled "beginner" when i typically don't want to try anything unless i already happen to be good at it?) caused me to make the move and find myself an instructor. starting violin makes me want to get better and stick with it. but for a second, let's go beyond that...the whole violin thing struck something deeper than that in me. if i have the power to learn an instrument, then what's stopping me from doing all the other stuff i've wanted to but never tried? i decided to start working out again and eating the right foods (i spent over a year being a "bad vegetarian," existing on french fries and mozzarella sticks)...i've lost almost 10 lbs in a month and it's only the beginning. i gave up caffeine, which is something i never thought i'd be able to do. and surprisingly enough, the lack of caffeine (after the withdrawal headaches of course) has given me MORE energy! i've become more productive just in general, and that's something i'm really proud of. i wake up, go for a run, practice violin, and then instead of stopping there to vegetate in front of the tube, i figure out what else needs to be done....maybe i'll do a few loads of laundry, maybe it's time to finally dust and polish my bedroom, or rearrange my bathroom. i spend time cooking homemade HEALTHY meals, even meals in advance so that when i'm read to eat i simply throw something into the microwave. it feels good to be alive, and for some reason, the starting point for all of this energy is my learning the violin. i'm really pleased thus far, as i had my expectations set really low regarding my musical career. i felt so old, and didn't think violin would come naturally or be something i was capable of learning. but after only a few weeks of lessons, my understanding of the instrument and my enthusiasm for it are much greater than i ever could have imagined. what's better is that my teacher is pleased because apparently so far i am doing a lot of the "right things" (in terms of positioning and technique) naturally, before she has to correct me, and she thinks it's going to be considerably easy for me to move along quickly, at least at first. so that's encouraging. a few things to note, however, which are mysteries to me thus far... *my dog has begun to howl a bit when i play! not always, but sometimes when i'm practicing my open bowing, particularly on the g string, he will howl along with the violin. i don't know if he wants to form a duet, or if he's trying to tell me he hates my violin! i've actually referred to this site to see if this has happened with anyone else and the results are mixed (i've read threads which say it's the dogs' natural reaction to the pitch, that they enjoy it, that they hate it, etc). i've been asking my dog personally what all the fuss is about, but he doesn't want to tell me. *also, my teacher has encouraged me to really experiment with my bowing especially now at the beginning stages, to see what type of pressure and movement works and doesn't work. she told me not to fear crunching noises or strange pitches, as working through them will help me iron them out. and obviously we also went over the basics (proper angle of the bow over each string, elbow and wrist positioning, proper bow hold, keeping the bow parallel to the bridge, etc)...so far everything more or less is sounding pretty good. i have a fairly solid sound being achieved, but the one thing i noticed is a slightly shaky bow, particularly during a down bow once i pass the frog and get closer to or beyond the middle portion of the bow. again, i've sifted through some things on this site and some people attribute a shaky bow to the actual bow hold while others blame it on the bow itself. i'm guessing with me being a newbie, it's probably the former, but my newest adventure is trying to stop the quivering that sometimes happens while i play. of course, i have another lesson monday so if i don't iron it out by then, i'll be sure to ask my teacher about this! *another thing my teacher is having me work on is the strength in my left pinky. she told me to practice playing all the strings pizzicatto with my left pinky and gave me a bunch of exercises. i must say the little bugger really IS getting stronger, but i've come to notice a burning sensation from all the playing. maybe soon i'll have a nifty little musician's callous! i suppose that's it for now. isn't life grand? Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:35:44 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/littletimebomb/20096/10204/ i finally have had enough personal experience with being a violinist (and yet i laugh at "violinist" still because i am definitely still at extreme beginner status) and getting immersed into the world of string instruments and musicians in general, that i have gathered enough rhetoric to form a blog entry. it's funny how easy it is to suddenly discover all these people in my life who have background with not only violins, but violas and cellos. or people who record and play music and have been waiting to collaborate with violinists. knowing there is a community (albeit small in comparison to those with a lifetime of musical training) of people in my personal life who i can talk about my adventures in learning violin with is very exciting for me. discovering this website helps, too. even though i just started lessons i feel like my own perusing and internet research has helped me and continues to feed my need to learn more. i am thankful that i already love my teacher and all she's taught me is how to hold the bow and violin, as well as the instrument's anatomy. my biggest worry was the private instruction. a teacher can make or break the experience, and i knew that i'd be able to tell immediately if my teacher was a good match, if i'd like her style, if it'd be exciting for me to learn from her, etc. not only is she excited to teach someone who happens to be the same age as her, but she assured me that in the grand scheme of things, i'm not even close to "old" (i was feeling like i'm the oldest person in the world to start playing an instrument, even though i know it's ridiculous and untrue) and that she's currently got three students besides me who are adult beginners and i'm the youngest amongst them. it makes me feel encouraged and comfortable that i even found a good music studio that accepts a broad range of students like that, and offers quality private instruction for a very acceptable fee each month. the adventure with my lessons continues and i can't wait to really start feeling like a violinist. and the things i've stumbled upon...i visited chicago's printer's row lit fest this past weekend and found a copy of stradivari's genius amongst the piles of used books in cramped and claustrophobic tents. i'm about halfway through the book two days later and am glad to have found it. it seems to give a good overall story of the roots of the violin, and always having been a school geek, i love being able to learn more about the world's greatest violin-maker of all-time. then yesterday i happened to see a cousin of mine for the first time in probably seven years. he's been making his own music since high school and is pretty brilliant. he found out about my learning violin, left, and came back in 30 minutes with an old fiddle from 1937. it seems to need a LOT of repair, but it just got me even more excited to continue this journey. one day i would love to invest in getting this violin fixed up. i want MANY violins, and i just started and i already have stumbled upon two. it's that whole thing where you don't notice things until you make it a conscious thought, and then it's everywhere. like when i first bought my new hyundai...i never saw that particular model of car, but after i bought mine, i see them on the road and often because i'm now paying attention. think of all the flea markets i've been to, i probably have passed up violins. or all the people i've known in bands who collect various instruments just because. seeing how after only five weeks, i've already acquired two instruments, a good teacher, interesting books and a ton of knowledge, i can only be thrilled about what's to come..... Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:51:16 GMT