May 12, 2005 at 3:50 AM

I wake up to the sound of heavy machinery on the street outside our house. They're fixing pot-holes. Great. My first lesson is in an hour, and I can hardly hear myself think.

An hour later, they're still going strong. And the doorbell rings.

It's DM, a woman approximately my age; I recognize her from seeing her play in the symphony. As I swing the door open wide, before I can say anything, she looks at me, smiles and says, "Hello, Debby."

And, with only that, I can feel the music in her.

I welcome her in, we go to my office, and the pot-hole cacophony stops. She's 5 minutes late, because she had to park down the hill and walk up. The pot-hole truck was blocking the street.

She is full of energy and focus. Today, she says, is the day I become acquainted with my violin. She takes it from the case and begins to tune it. G and D are fine, but E is awful. Even I can hear it.

Uh, turn off the ceiling fan, it's distorting the sound.

Next, the shoulder rest has to be adjusted. She shows me how to hold the violin by the neck and swing it up into place. We tinker with the height and angle a bit, and realize that the chin rest is not in a good location. She and I are about the same size, and she uses a center chin rest. Perhaps I should as well. Another trip to Ifshin's is in order.

As we fiddle about with the shoulder rest, she talks a bit about the classes she teaches in some of the local schools. She stops at one point and shows me how she teaches the kids to hold the bow correctly for a particular type of bowing. DM has done a careful analysis of her own movements, and can clearly demonstrate how everything moves, and she understands why. Her explanation would do a Physics professor proud. She says most of her kids get that technique in one lesson, and I believe it.

The joy of teaching violin weaves through everything she says, and every movement she makes. It is, she says, her calling, and what she likes to do best.

DM teaches rank beginners like myself one hand at a time, starting with the left. I don't know if that is normal or not, but it does make sense to me. We are going to begin by positioning the violin correctly and plucking the open strings. Pizzicato, of a sort.

For the warm-up exercise she is going to show me, my left hand mostly needs to be relaxed, its fingers out of the way. Relaxing those fingers is so hard, but I do my best. We may be working on the left hand, but today the right hand is much busier. I position my right thumb where she tells me, and place my index finger above the G string. Is my arm in the right position? What part of my finger will I use to pluck the string?

DM takes her violin out and demonstrates different sorts of pizzicato. My violin is still very new, but hers has the patina and character only age and kind use can give. It sounds better than mine, as it should.

Ok, so we play one, two whole notes on the open G string. Then we play two whole notes on the open D string. No, I should be moving the finger in a circular motion... that's right. That's better, no, don't be afraid to make a big motion and a big sound. "This is so much fun," she says, engrossed in plucking the strings. "We can't do this in orchestra."

There is nothing jaded about this woman, anywhere.

She continues her exaggerated pizzicato, plucking the strings with enormous gusto, a satisfied smile on her face, and looking at that smile, I find myself loosening up a little. I start forgetting about how difficult it is to learn to play the violin, and concentrate on adding a little gusto and exaggeration to my pizzicato, instead.

And so it goes, with her correcting my finger position and arm position as we work our way back and forth across the strings. Whole notes, half, quarter, eighth...

I have a problem; I'm hitching my right shoulder up a little as I lift my arm while I play the G string. Nothing I can do about it right now, because of the broken shoulder. I hate to develop bad habits, and I can see she hates it, too, but my only other choice is to wait, maybe as much as a year. I'm not willing to do that.

Oops, another problem. My nails are too long. Sigh. I used to bite my nails and hate to lose them, but one must be prepared to make sacrifices for one's art, so off they come, as she tells me amusing stories about desperate teenage girls, willing to make any bargain to keep their nails.

A couple more times through the warm up exercise, we discuss how to practice, and the lesson is over.

We look at her website, talk computers a bit, and I offer to take a picture of her violin for her website, when she's ready to have one taken.

We talk schedules. We settle on Thursday mornings as our normal time. I'm going to be gone a total of 4 weeks over the next four months, so we shift days where we can, but there are two weeks in August I won't have lessons.

We talk money. She likes to get paid monthly, in advance. That's fine with me. Before we set up our first lesson, I made her accept an extra $5 a lesson for coming to my home. After discussing it with my husband, I have decided to pay her for any days we miss because of our schedule. She is surprised, but we can afford it, and it seems the courteous thing to do. I'm self-employed, too, and if a client wants guaranteed access to my programming services during particular periods of time, they pay for it whether they use it or not.

And then she is gone. I am completely exhausted. But very satisfied. DM has already revealed a very important secret to me, I think, although she doesn't know it.

To learn the violin with facility, like a child, I must be as a child. This week, during every 10 minute practice, I will relax, grin, and relish making the most exaggerated motions and the loudest sounds I can while I pluck out my Looney Tunes pizzicato.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 4:27 AM

Haaaaa! George Plimpton could learn from you!

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 4:29 AM

P.S. DM sounds like a freekin' genius too.

From Laurie Niles
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 5:33 AM

You are so right, you have to be receptive like a child! One of my adult students who has played for two years recently decided to participate in Suzuki group class. That means that in addition to her weekly lessons with me, she goes to a group lesson Monday nights. She is the only adult in a group of 6-9 year olds, and she is having a wonderful time. After first time she played her pieces in sync with all the other "kids," she said to me, "Wow, that was fantastic! I'm livin' on the EDGE!" The parents of the other students are constantly coming up to her to congratulate her for her efforts. One said, "You are my hero!"

From deborah mitchell
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 5:52 AM

Laurie, taking a class with children sounds wonderful to me. Thank you for mentioning it. Maybe I can do that some day, too.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 6:05 AM

Deborah, you sound like you're having a lot of fun and your teacher is, too. Fun is contagious. I hope my students enjoy taking lessons as much as I enjoy giving them.

From alicelizard s.
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 12:26 PM

What a great essay! I love your perceptive, detailed observations. Keep it up over the course of your first year or so and you'll have a book. You've picked a great teacher, from the sounds of it. On a side note, your decision to pay her extra for coming to your house and to pay for missed lessons is correct and decent in my opinion. --K.

From Greg Lee
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 12:30 PM

Hot damn I'm a noob. Well writtenthough.

From K. S.
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 12:34 PM

Sorry, that message above wasn't from alice. She was logged in on my computer. It's from me.

-K.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 4:24 PM

I read something about adult beginners which matches my own experiences as a teacher. Adult beginners tend to be very critical of themselves, unlike kids. Adult beginners say things like, "I sound terrible," "This is such a simple thing and I can't get it right," "I don't know whether I can ever do something that complicated (reading sheet music)." Please don't do this! I spend a lot of time reassuring my adult beginners, and I'm sure your teacher would, too.

From Evelyn Ray
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 7:46 PM

Great read.

I struggled to get completely comfortable for a year. Then I was able to go to a big city with nice violin shops and I tried out a gazillion chin rests. Easy solution. I needed a center rest. I decided on the Flesch no hump. It's one of the best things I've done for myself since starting lessons. It's an amazing difference. I've heard sometimes it's a better fit for petite (dare I say, "short") people with short arms.

Keep writing.

From Jeff Lim
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 8:52 PM

Thanks for the read -- was having an unusually off kilter day and somehow reading your bit cheered me up a bit. Best wishes on your new endeavor.

-J

From deborah mitchell
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 9:39 PM

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I just finished my first 10 minute practice and I had to stop 4 times to let my right shoulder rest. But I made some very loud sounds. :-)

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May 12, 2005 at 3:50 AM

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