Violin Lessons #43,#44

It has been quite a while since I posted about two lessons in the one blog. This time I blame the family trip to Sydney for my daughter to go and see One Direction. I meant to write a post about the holiday but I have been too slack.

My daughter came with me to lesson #43. I was on leave that Tuesday but I made time to come in to the studio. My G-Major scale and arpeggio is improving and I am making good progress with the pieces I am working on. I should just tattoo "more bow" on the back of my right hand because that is what I need to get better sound. I was happy to hear I am getting better because there will be precious little violin time between this lesson and the next.

A brief note about the holiday (in case I don't post a separate entry)

We flew to Sydney on Thursday. That day we went to Madame Tussaud's and the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium (the attractions are very close to each other). On Friday we went to Wild Life Sydney and took the Manly ferry to Manly Sea Life Sanctuary. Saturday we had time for the Sydney Tower Eye in the morning. This was also the day of the Fleet Review so there was plenty going on in the harbour. We even saw Prince Harry's motorcade drive by us. In the afternoon we went out to Olympic Park for the One Direction concert at Allphones Arena. We didn't get back to the hotel until a quarter after midnight. Sunday was our last day. We spent the morning on a harbour cruise to get a good look at the war ships and tall ships. After that we went back to the airport to discover our flight was 50 minutes late. Then I drove back home from the Gold Coast in time to watch the Dami Factor and the end of the NRL grand final.

My lesson today was very relaxing given the busy day I had at work. It really is so good to be able to have something like this, or playing in the park, to improve my day. Even before I started I was enjoying myself. Ava was playing Shark Attack and she sounded very good.

Today I started with Space Walk before moving on to The Old Fiddler Man. I get so many helpful tips about playing music. Last week Laura told me how to fade out a note. This week there was instructions on how to play notes very softly, how to play "French" (light and airy) and how to play "German" (strong and loud). I am starting to think that, on top of learning the basic skills and practicing scales and other exercises, it will be tips like these that will help me stand out from other violinists.

I finished up with Barrier Reef which I played for the first time. There is something I like more than earning stickers, and that is to hear Laura play accompaniment on the violin (even if I do have to concentrate a little harder on what I am doing - not because I can't play while Laura plays, but because I want to listen to what she plays as well as what I am playing).

To sum up, I need more work on my main pieces as well as some more time with the scales and a little bit of the "repertoire" pieces. Did I mention yet how much fun I am having?
:)