Teach myself violin. Why the hell not.

In which a complete amateur woos you with a thrift shop violin.

[babyface-bat]

C sounds HORRIBLE

Everything on the C string sounds so baaaad

[erthetoc]

In jollier news. Also a 96 on my neuroscience test.

But I also somehow sat on my Robert Smith Sitting on a Spider sculpture and how he’s missing his head oh nooo.

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February 18th, I'll say!

I couldn't resist the cello. I did it. I'm happier and more motivated on cello.

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Excercise 15 from the Schroeder book!

I finally got it to somewhat work with a metronome!

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Ughhhh

so sharp sharp sharp

[ask-sherlock-blog1]

Quite a stunning lady; Lady Blunt, that is. Gorgeous Stradivarius violin.

I want it.

- SH

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An instrument with this kind of finish is one of the most aesthetically pleasing things I can find.

New instruments have that awesome new wood/glue smell though. 

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Sightreading yay

Ok so sightreading has always always always been a weak point for me. But I just realized that reading Vocalise on http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xj11vu_serjeij-rachmaninoff-s-vocalise-op-34-no-14-violin-and-piano-sheet-music-video-score_music wasn't too mind bending because the setup is kind of similar to guitar (what with the E string and all). 

This may go better than expected :)

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I just started toying around with it like an hour ago. Fluidity needed, as well as actually getting the damn notes down XD

G major was the first scale I figured out how to play, and the first scale I could do in two octaves. So I'll need to really nail G major so I can feel confident that I'm hitting the notes I need to hit. 

I ran out of room to bow lol awkward chin.

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Vocalise - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Here goes.

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Indeed uncontrollably down.

-Trevor Preston

I love the rhythm of this.

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I shudder to think what I must have looked like at orchestra concerts. First bass, visible to audience. I bopped like a turkey at every rehearsal and concert, I know it.

Anyhow, this isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

[babyface-bat]

Motivation and the chosen instrument

Another big issue is motivation. It was never really difficult for guitar because the amount of awesome solo music available for it is sometimes daunting. Most of my strifes with guitar stemmed from the fact that I'd had it so long.

Bass was never an issue when I had an ensemble to play with. Once it turned into a solo instrument it was much more difficult to manage the stress. It was me hearing me. All the time. No room full for me to balance out or to balance me.

I've never felt that violin was a particularly good solo instrument. It gets great parts in orchestral pieces but I can't find much of a solo repertoire that I like. I do like the fact that it's small and easy to carry though (bassist for three years).

Cello is a big one for me. Solo capabilities, that really rich voice that I could never get while playing high register on bass, great range (though I think the range for the string instruments is pretty much the same? I really like the range this one hits though), and the Bach Suites. Violin has Chaconne, so if I find more like that I may be set. But cello has the suites and I loooove those. 

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E minor.

Going back down the scale knocks the intonation off and makes it harder to focus on the wispy, hoarse sounds the bow starts to make. This is why it's so good to record. I can't hear how it all comes together while I'm playing.

[floirenca]

[moreofamore-blog]

Violinist Jascha Heifetz playing in Mili’s darkened studio as light attached to his bow traces the bow movement.

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Attitudes

So I'm going to just go ahead and upload videos of my daily/weekly practice as progress. For a long time I was in the school of "You shouldn't post or make a video if you don't have it down." This had some terribly neurotic consequences, to say the least. I'm still terrified of mistakes.

Last year when I took bass lessons I remember crying during solo practice or right before lessons because the anxiety was constantly mounting. I was worried someone would hear me from the room and wonder what the fuck I was doing at the school of music, so I barely used the bow. I was worried my bass professor would think I was an embarrassment, so I'd....get completely skittish and scared during lessons. Scared to try new techniques for the fear of doing them badly. Completely the opposite of what a person should be doing if they want to improve.

And I was painfully aware of this the whole time. So then I'd worry about how completely backwards my thought processes were. And then I'd worry that maybe I was just forcing myself with music and that it was never "meant to be." That some people just don't have it in them.

Typing that last bit is starting to bum me out again, because I still linger on that thought occasionally. I do compare myself to others a lot. I have a weird, weird relationship with music and I'm trying to work through it.

So this is where it's going to go. My fuckups and victories are all getting dumped here. It's all part of the same staggered continuum, right? And I need to learn that that's okay.

[babyface-bat]

With a bow, day 1!

I hate hearing videos and realizing I "fixed" a note by making it even more off than it was. I also fucked up the second part of the phrase even though I was getting it fine before. But that's okay. I need to stop being so obsessed with getting every single part perfectly the first time.

[izmia]

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Impromptu “Fantasie” No.4 in C sharp minor, Op.66-Chopin; played by Valentina Igoshina.