I have changed step and signed up to an online group, "Julia's Violin Academy". Not cheap, £1000 a year, but worth every penny. It is so well organised and structured, not to mention interactive: there are live practise sessions, lessons, etc everyday. There's no let up,

 It is very international but mostly Americans. Julia is Dutch and has a teaching staff of six. There's just over 300 students. 

I joined on the 26th Sept. and spent a week in 'Basics', before moving into 'Beginner 1' . Here I am supposed to stay for 30 days and learn how to play some arpeggios and scales until I can play Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' . Then I can move to on Beginner 2, where I started today after 14 days.

The average person at my standard usually manages 2-3 hour a week, I do three 30 minute slots a day, seven days a week which is 10 to 11 hours a week.

I will try to do a video and post it in here.

 

Open Strings Exercises

 I started on open strings exercises, that is to say not touching the strings with my left-hand fingers as I bow with the right hand. From a sheet of music I play on each string the music tells be to bow on: E, A, D or G. This isn't as easy as it seems, more often than not the bow touches two strings making an awful noise. Also too close to the bridge or fingerboard distorts the sound.

Here is some Open String music

1. We are only interested in where the head of the note lies, ignore the direction of the staff.

2, Notice all the notes lie between the lines: denotes open notes

3. Top line 4 crotchets (i/4 notes) on E string. Next 4 crotchets on the A, then 4 on the E, then 4 the D.

4 Next line, 4 below the normal lines on G

There are similar exercises all repeated to train your muscle memory to play on the correct string, properly

AND SO IT BEGINS

 The violin finally arrived on Wednesday 24th August at 6 pm.

It was difficult to open but once inside I was faced with the violin case.

Which had a pocket with carrying straps inside it.

Inside was the Violin and bow, rosin and the shoulder rest I had ordered separately.

A week later I am working my way through an online course with Allison Sparrow, which is going ok. The only problem I have is my left shoulder and upper arm which are very painful (Sodium deficiency and side-effects of medication). This means I can only play for five minutes at  a time, but I still manage 45 - 60 minutes a day in 5 minute bursts  

LEARN TO PLAY THE VIOLIN COMPLETE LESSONS 1 - 3

Learn how to play the violin online in 30 lessons! Guaranteed to take you from a complete beginner to a decent intermediate level.

11:58NOW P

Delayed Delivery

 Cardiff Violins telephoned me, to apologise for a further week delay in delivering the violin. It seems the delivery into them was delayed, compounded by a backlog in their workshop for setting it up. No good moaning, I have stacks to do painting anyway: A commission to finish, and sold paintings to pack and mail.

Because my family will want to name the violin with some ridiculous title, when they find out I'm getting it - still secret, I shall christen it 'Vi'. I pick this name as a link to my late wife, Patsy. Her second name was Lavinia, which I will abbreviate to Vi. I will then give it a surname of Lin ...... Vi Lin!

Even better an Irish surname Vi O'Lynne

Learning to Read Music DAY 3

 Learning Music 

In parallel with learning the violin I shall have to learn to read music. To this end I invested a whole £12 in buying a book from Amazon which arrived today

I've finished the first day study, taken the tests and got them right - encouraging.

I made up a Crib-Sheet (I popped the strings of the violin in too)

Online Violin Lessons. The Online Piano & Violin Tutor (Youtube)

I've also hooked up for free Youtube lessons with Allison Sparrow.  It seems a well established set up. It starts with 10 free lessons which need her SONG BOOK 1 (£8 Amazon) with the music

This book is an accompaniment to Alison’s video lessons 1-10 and contains 10

well known classical and original pieces, which have all been specifically written

and arranged to go with those lessons.

These pieces contain all the knowledge cumulated thus far from the video lessons

1-10. There are a few notes here and there that will not have been covered in those

lessons, but they are all explained in the video that accompanies this book.

Telephoning The Violin Shop DAY 2

 I was getting a little concerned that my payment for the violin had left Paypal but the money had not left my bank account. Further, that there was no acknowledgement that the shop had received the order, which concerned me enough to telephone them.

Mark answered the phone and was really nice. He said he would find out what was happening and call me back. I was starting to get worried again when, mid-afternoon, Mark called me full of apologies. They were very busy in the shop - I believe him as they are so busy you and only go to the shop by appointment. It seems the shop is pretty famous, they service instruments for orchestras and well known violinists. 

Mark said that it is not me simply buying off the shelf, for a start they don't live on a shelf. First they go into the workshop where they are setup, I won't bore you with the details. I will get it next week.

When he found out I was a total novice, he became so supportive telling me how I stood stand to play etc. He said I could call him anytime I like for advice and help!

Can sense I will like the Cardiff Violin setup very much

Tuning Yourself Up DAY 1 (Part 4)

 It seems that it is important to get yourself warmed up. Nicky Benetti suggests this routine:

link    Click Here