Violin lesson #101, #102

These are in the one post (a) because I behind in my ToDo list and didn't devote enough time to blogging last week and (b) because they are kind of related.

Both weeks I spent much of the lesson focussed on Londonderry Air. I had not played this for Laura before so we thought it was time to see how it was going. There were good points and bad points.

It appears I carry a lot of tension in my hands. Laura said a good way to relieve the tension was to strangle small puppies with my bare hands. Actually, that part is not true. I just have to learn not to hold the violin and the bow so tightly. So now when I practice I stop randomly and check my grip. I don't hold pencils or the steering wheel of the car tightly and it will be the same with the violin and bow ... eventually.

My elbow does not point towards the ground. This means I can't get a good curve on my violin fingers which means it is harder to get good intonation and do some of the fast and fancy playing Laura does. I like fast and fancy. It reminds me of a Ferrari, or an ex-flame of mine, but I digress...

I don't use enough bow. This is really important especially for Londonderry Air because it is so lyrical. I can't believe over a hundred lessons on and Laura still has to remind me "more bow, more bow". I think I am getting there. Hopefully I am using more bow than I used to even though I don't always get to the heel or tip.

In #101 Laura helped me polish O Sole Mio. I appreciated her efforts. I feel like I can play it well. Having said all that it didn't go down to well when I played it for Mrs Sage at Valentines Day. It was partly the way I played and partly her lack of interest. I think I picked a bad song, or perhaps the key was too high.

This brings me around to the subject of the viola. Laura and I talked about taking violin to ABRSM3 and then considering a switch. This might be a good idea. I have to give +1 to Mrs Sage who remembered one of the students at the recital playing viola. She said she liked the sound of the viola more than the violin, so perhaps it is not a bad way to go, though I expect I will miss playing Patience. I can't imagine I will be able to play her while learning a viola at the same time, at least not initially. However, this is all quite some time away so there is little point worrying about that now.

Generally my playing is pretty good. Laura told Sirisha and I we no longer sound like beginners, but every now and then we slip up and show our beginner-ness. As you know, I am not satisfied with "pretty good" which is why I go to Laura and why I'll keep on with lessons.

Also I have dumped some of the games I play on the tablet in an effort to make more time for more productive pursuits, like blogging and playing violin,