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It can be tempting to neglect your instrument and do something more enjoyable for the moment such as watching a movie, hanging out on Facebook, playing online games, or perhaps taking an unnecessary nap. Here are a few tips to help you stay motivated.
- Leave your instrument out in plain sight.
- Listen to great music and performances.
- Read through new pieces of music.
- Find play along recordings or music to jam with.
- Plan a performance.
- Find a friend to play duets with.
- Find musicians to motivate you on a forum or other social network.
- Enroll in a competition.
- Plan a chamber music party or jam session.
- Record yourself.
- Join a community orchestra.
- Find friends with mutual interests.
- Set specific goals for your instrument.
- Get a teacher. If you don't have time for lessons every week, maybe every other week.
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Thanks for the tips! By the way, typo in #1…"sight"
Youtube is a very good place to find great violinists and pieces
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Thanks for catching that Daniel. Maybe I should have said "on site" LOL 
I agree, YouTube is fantastic.
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Staying motivated can be a challenge. Great tips. I have been trying to learn for 10 years. My job requires me to spend a lot of time in my car 12-14 hrs a day. I would get discouraged and not play for a year at a time, so for the past 10 years I haven't made it past a simple version of boil them cabbage.
I decided that if I was going to learn to play I would need to quit blaming everything else and find the time to practice. I now take a fiddle with me in the car. When I have time between appointments I look for an empty parking lot or a quit place to park and practice.
Where there is a will there is a way. I may not have but 15 min at a time, but that is better than no time at all.
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pcallow said:
I decided that if I was going to learn to play I would need to quit blaming everything else and find the time to practice.
You may think you have blamed everything else but I bet I have blamed more things than you have. Have you ever blamed your cat?
I would say you have made the most important decision. "The enemy has been sighted and it's me."
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Good point Oliver, and true.
pcallow – let us know if we can help motivate you. I guess when you spend so much time in the car driving you have time to listen to a lot of great fiddle music right?
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I set a big goal year-long to work towards and little achievements to finish along the way. That way, I get a mini victory every time a little achievement is accomplished. The goal for this year is to play Spring like this:
The drama that this is from was super addicting. So is the anime. It's a nice pick me up when I start not wanting to play.
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Your web sight is great motivation. I have learned more from this sight in the last week or two than I ever have. Your you tube videos are very helpful plus all the forum subjects.
My focus right now is to just play scales to make sure I am hitting the notes. I have a tuner with a green light when I am on the note, I trying to keep the green light on.
I have an iPad in my car with Pandora I have been listening to a lot of fiddle music.
Thanks to everyone your input
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Great job Paul,
After you find those green lights make sure to try it without the tuner as well. You can probably recognize the right pitch better than you think already.
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These are great tips to stay motivated that you have listed.
My neighbors are musically talented and we have a schedule two times a week where we actually get together and play. I have learned a lot from them. Getting together with friends who love to play keeps me motivated and is so much fun.
I am hoping when I really get good at playing my violin I can start a group with my friends. That would be so awesome!
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Your neighborhood sessions are just about ideal for motivation. What instruments do the others play?
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This is all really great advice to stay motivated! Thank you for the info 
Both this site and Youtube are super resources for learning, I very much agree. If anyone is looking for inspiration or motivation I highly recommend to look up the user Furyxx on Youtube. On the channel are videos of an amazing violinist and pianist duo. They've definitely left me in awe and inspire me to try the violin!
I wish I had someone to learn to play violin with. Alas, I know no one that plays it. My boyfriend plays guitar, and when I was trying to learn the ukulele I did my best to convince him to buy one and play along with me, to no avail. 
I'm someone that unfortunately requires a lot of motivation or prodding to keep doing something. I'm hoping the violin will require none such.
Thanks again for your ideas and the video. Take care.
~Ashra
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OK.
How about for motivation you elect to put an audio clip of your playing on Fiddlerman within the next 3 months (or sooner) even if it is just a a short Windows recording?
(You can even practice stage fright this way!) 
How about all the free music posted on Fiddlerman? Maybe you can choose from there?
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When i help my daughter to practice it motivates me. Since I bought the cvn 500, i have been practicing once a day everyday for at least half an hour and may be more than once during weekend when we don't have much going on. There are times when i was exhausted and so stressful that I didn't feel like practicing, but I forced myself and after that I felt great.
I like to practice songs that I like and that motivates me as well. However, the down side is I don't feel like practicing scales, chromatic scales, etc:( -- I guessed I'm what the Chinese saying, "one who wants to run when he/she doesn't know how to walk yet." I need a lot of motivation to push me to learn the basic…
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You will enjoy the music that you like to play even more if you also play the music you don't like to play.
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We have the same saying,"You have to walk before you can run", and it is very true. Most of us want to run, and fast, way before we are ready.
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When I'm sitting around feeling lazy, i keep my violin out sitting next to me then I can't help but pick it up.
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Guilt is an entirely acceptable reason to practice.
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