Curious to know what our instructor thinks of this pricey shoulder rest:

Hello fiddle-friends:

Is anyone out there going this summer to either Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA (http://www.centrum.org/fiddle/ft-description.html) or to the Stanford Jazz Residency in Stanford, CA (http://stanfordjazz.org/jazz-camp/2012-residency/)?

Kate

Hello violin chums,

I just wanted to tell you about a wonderful day I had on Sunday. I attended a fiddle workshop in Camden (North London, UK) with a violinist friend of mine.

We had the privilege to meet -  and join in workshops run by - Chris Haigh. If you don't know his name do a quick Google - he's a top-notch fiddler player and has written quite a body of literature on the subject.

His focus on Sunday was 'rock violin' (interestingly he always calls it a violin, not a fiddle - which is a clue to his classical background..). He said if you get to the point where your audience are playing 'air violin' along with you then you've made it!

Just one day of intensive violin-ness has stiffened my resolve to get those flights to Austin booked. Four days..? Heaven! :o)

Ian

First Recital: the longest, scariest 3:41 of my musical journey.

While rummaging through my hard disk recently, I came across this clip and thought I should share.  At the time, I had returned to lessons after about a 16 year "break" and had just finished 5 months of weekly instruction culminating in this annual recital with about 80 people in attendance (fiddle students and families).

For me, it was the one of the most heart pounding, adrenaline pumping activities that I can recall. Fortunately I had practiced quite a bit, which was a good thing because I was completely on "auto-pilot" throughout the performance.  The only things I can recall while playing are thoughts like:

•     why is my bow bouncing like this, that shouldn't be happening;
•     this sure is taking a long time, and I'm not even half way through;
•     now, how does the next tune start;
•     don't look at the audience or you'll surely crash and burn;
•     oh, that didn't sound good;
•     hmm, I wonder why my vision is getting a little blurry;
•     wow, she's (my fiddle teacher) really picking up the tempo,  hope I can keep up.

How the notes managed to come out at all in that turmoil is beyond me.

Looking back at it from an adult perspective, I can only say that the emotional anxiety that builds up leading to a recital is exceeded by your feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction once it's complete.  I've since started doing the annual recital as a solo with my teacher providing piano accompaniment - yes, all those feelings remain although they do seem to get a bit more manageable each time.

Hope you enjoy!
Dave

I have a question That is bothering me at this time.  It refers to the fact that I am rather tall, and long in the arm.  To make the characteristic box when bowing, in order for my forearm to be parallel with the strings, I end up with only about six inches of bow to the tip.  This makes it an awfully long way to the frog, consequently I am not using all the bow.  Your thoughts?