Marty Dalton http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/ Marty Dalton's weblog on Violinist.com. Marty Dalton's weblog on Violinist.com. en-us © Marty Dalton http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20074/6733/ Today was a good day. Every weekend now is almost like a "rehearsal" for summer. This summer I'll be visiting my folks in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida, and for the first time in over 10 years I'll be with with all of my brothers and sisters. I'm going to be so happy to see them after so many years. My eldest brother, like me, recently got divorced. He was career military and was gone quite a bit. I think it takes a strong woman to be an good army wife, but apparently his wasn't. I wish I could practice more. I've been having a hard time picking up my instrument, and, lately, when I try to demonstrate for my students it doesn't sound as good as I want. Once Summer gets here I'll be much better with it. I'd like to record some Bach and post it on here. Now that I have a clean garage I have a great place for recording. It's amazing how good the accoustics are in there! Mon, 02 Apr 2007 04:30:24 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/200611/6095/ Wow, it's funny how long it's been since I've written on here. So much has happened in the 3 years: I got married, moved to Texas, moved back to Oklahoma, now I'm getting divorced. It's sad that this chapter in my life has to end, but I guess it's for the best. She wasn't mature enough to handle a marriage, and I have to live with that. I get to thinking that there are no women out there who want what I want, but then I think there must be at least one. Who knows? All I know is that in about two weeks or so I'll be in front of a judge who will disolve my marriage. I'll be officially divorced. All I ever really wanted in life was what my parents have. They've been happily married for 35 years. They had a big family and they make a good living...I'd give up anything to experience that. I'd give up my greatest love, music, so that I could experience an even greater love. But this is how it is, and there's not a thing I can do, but just be sad, and eventually move on with life. It will be hard, but I've been through tragedy before. I just pray God will grant me the strength. Thu, 23 Nov 2006 19:57:16 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20038/686/ I'll be auditioning for 2 professional orchestras in September, Oklahoma City Philharmonic and the Wichita Symphony. I really hope I get ONE of them (Hopefully the one in Oklahoma City because its close...but I'll drive the 2+ hours to Wichita). The excerpts are finally starting to sound pretty good. My roommate helped me out a little bit with some of them. I figured out something really cool with my practicing: think slow, play fast! Its so simple by so effective for me. I sort of get in a mode where things seem to just slow down (without slowing the tempo). I can't explain it, other than I'm playing at tempo, but I feel things in slow motion. My roommate tried it and he said it worked for him, too! I think I may be on to something here. I have to play Tchaikovsky for one audition and Mozart 4 for the other one. No worries there, well the Mozart it a little tricky (you'd never think so by looking at the music!). Oh well. Tue, 12 Aug 2003 05:57:02 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20032/150/ SHE SAID YES! I asked her to marry me yesterday and she said yes! :) Sun, 16 Feb 2003 16:50:49 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20032/122/ Felicia wanted me to lay off a little with the practicing this weekend because I pulled something in my bow arm throwing the football around. I've been taking pain pills and using icy hot, and it seems to be getting better. I have another lesson with her tomorrow with Tchaikovsky, I'm really worried, everytime I play for her I feel like I suck terribly! Oh well. It keeps getting better, that's a good sign. Of course, with a teacher like Felicia, what else can you expect? She's the absolute greatest teacher in the world, hands down! Mon, 10 Feb 2003 06:51:38 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20032/108/ My forearm is killing me. Its been killing me since sunday. I'm going to give the violin a rest, take some ibuprofin and rub some icy hot on it. Hopefully it will get better soon. I know its not violin-related so that's a good sign. Thu, 06 Feb 2003 06:22:56 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20031/81/ Practiced for 3 1/2 hours tonight. Not as much as I have been recently, but it was good practice. I have my minidisk recorder there recording most of it (I highly recommend these devices). I hear the Tchaikovsky is getting better, but its a pain. Slowly its getting better. Hopefully it will get Feliciatized this friday after my lesson with Felicia. She always has the answer (so does Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan...both of whom are paying a visit tonight ;) Thu, 30 Jan 2003 08:06:09 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20031/76/ Just got back with Philharmonic rehearsal. Uggh, I'm tired and my head hurts. Tomorrow I get to teach the little kiddies how to play the violin (Yay!). Then I teach a viola lesson. I played Tchaikovsky in studio class again today. It's getting better and better. Everytime I play it I hear something new, new ideas. Hope Felicia can give me a boost at my first lesson on the piece *fingers crosses* Well, that's all for me. Wed, 29 Jan 2003 05:42:34 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20031/73/ my head hurts again. why do we practice? I need some asprin Tue, 28 Jan 2003 06:52:39 GMT http://www.violinist.com/blog/ouviolinist/20031/48/ Well, this friday I came to my girl's house. She's not a serious musician (she plays clarinet), but she loves music. She'll sometimes call when I'm practicing and ask me to play for her over the phone. Its funny because no one has ever asked for me to play for them. So I get to her house friday night and she tells me "play tchaikovsky for me". My teacher just started me with this piece 3 weeks ago, so it's not great yet, but my girl still wanted to hear it. I played, it sucked (the accoustics in her room sucked up all the sound) and I put the violin away. She had a big smile on her face. It was nice to see that even though I didn't play very good it still made someone happy. Sun, 19 Jan 2003 16:14:01 GMT