Violin Lesson #3

Leading up to the third week I kept up with the flash cards and practiced my bow hold on a chop-stick I had at work. I also discovered Noteflight. This is a web site that lets you enter and play musical scores. So after asking the teacher's permission, I entered the accompaniment to "The River Melody". Oddly enough I found it very hard to play my part with that accompaniment. Perhaps I will go back and a one-bar rest at the start so I can prepare myself after clicking the play button.

The other thing I did during the week was download some violin tuner apps for my Samsung Galaxy III. There were all virtually identical. The app would play the note of an open string while I adjusted the string on the violin.

I arrived a little early for the third lesson. This week there was someone else in with my teacher so I waited for my turn. As I waited I listened to what the young boy and the teacher were playing. It was a lively and pretty piece so I hope I get to play it one day. I could also hear someone having a piano lesson. I enjoyed being able to sit and listen to the music for a while.

The first part of my lesson I played "The Golden Harp" again. It was better, and I learned more about the pizzicato technique. I still have more work to do there. Next was "The River Melody". I played that well enough to earn my first sticker! This was a reward for me and a reminder to the teacher that I have learned what was expected of me.

Next came the bow hold. It had improved markedly from last week. That was partly due to the practice and partly to the way I picked up the bow. I hold it palm up and place the thumb first, then wrap the other fingers around the bow. It is easier for me to see where my fingers are contacting the bow. The rest of the lesson was spent learning to draw the bow across the strings and to pivot in order to play each string.

At the end of the lesson I was given another piece composed by my teacher. It is called "The Polar Bear" and consists of only G and D notes. My homework is to learn to play this with the bow. It will teach me bowing and pivoting.

After the lesson I was given an insight into my teacher's method. She said with the open strings I learn four notes (G D A E). With these four notes I can learn to read music and I can learn rhythms "monkey cow monkey cow". Not only that but I can learn to play pizzicato and bowing as well. This all helps me to learn skills at a steady pace. Later on when I come to fingering with the left hand (placing my fingers over the string to play different notes) I can focus on learning just that. Having thought about this for a little while there is a lot of sense in this method and I understand why she is using it.

Towards the very end she was explaining that the bow hold was important in order to apply pressure to the bow. Most of the time the bow can sit lightly on the strings. She told me the bow hold will come in very handy for Gypsy dances, and she played a few bars. It sounded so cool and I won't forget to ask about it when the time comes.

There is a lot to take in each lesson and plenty to practice during the week.