You've heard the song many times before, but did you ever really notice the violin part?  Yes, pull out your Motown compilation or Best of Marvin Gaye CD, and check out the violin!  Ever since I started my fiddling lessons, I've been hearing more violin/fiddle in pop music.  In addition to the artists I mentioned in the last blog entry, The Beatles, Kansas, and 10,000 Maniacs would come to mind right away, but then I started hearing the violin in U2 ("One Tree Hill") and in songs by The Arcade Fire.  Caught a little bit of "Your Song" by Elton John on the radio, and... oh yeah, a whole string section I forgot about.  Somewhat immersed in my new learning, I find connections more easily, with each one reinforcing my choice and my interest in pursuing my new instrument.

As a guitarist, I've also been in the habit sometimes of imagining what riff I would add to a song I'm listening to.  (That habit actually started before I played guitar, when I worked at The Gap in high school; the piped in music was so redundant I had to quietly whistle some additions to the songs in order to stay sane).  But now, instead of trying to hear room for my guitar solo, I'm listening to songs trying to hear where I'd add a fiddle track.  So, in my head, I'm off to a pretty good start!

As far as actually, you know, playing the instrument, progress is slow.  One issue I'm dealing with is never having learned to read music.  Now I'm at a point where I'd like to - I see the advantage - but I also want to learn to play more songs more quickly, and I can do that by ear more than by reading.  When I try to read music, I'm looking at too many things at once.  My fingerwork with my left hand is in decent shape for a beginner, because of prior experience with mandolin and guitar, but I do still need to watch what I'm doing.  I also need to watch my bow a fair amount of the time.  This is the part that's totally new - trying to keep the bow straight, and changing the angle so that I'm bowing the correct string.  Trying to look at the sheet music at the same time is generally too much.  How do I look in three places at once?  So even when I'm motivated, I find some substantial obstacles to address.  Shortcuts right now might be gratifying for a while, but will I form bad habits that inhibit my progress even more later?  Or is motivation the key that will get me through any door?

One thing I have going for me is the willingness to be "aggressive" with my playing.  My instructor, Jack, says that when your fiddle isn't producing the right sound or enough of it, the solution is often in playing harder, leaning into your mistake rather than backing off. Too light a touch on the strings produces screeches and whistles.  Turns out I had a decent, intuitive feel for this idea - not applying it consistently yet, but when I made the mistake, I knew what I had done wrong right away.  With my students, I like to talk about leaning into our discomfort, taking risks, allowing that mistakes are part of learning if you're learning anything worthy of your time and effort.  

Lessons are on a short hiatus as Jack and I can't coordinate schedules.  How much longer can I play the same few songs and scales?  Maybe long enough to make them sound good enough for my TLN blog...?  Or maybe that's just going to be my tease line for a long, long time.