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Wow - those practice vids are awesome...
Im a touch bummed - had to leave town for couple days and seriously contemplated taking my violin on the plane - but its a bit of a pain just getting through the little inspection deal - wore a sweater with gold flecks on it and I lit up like a large glowing christmas tree with a gazillion lights so I had to walk back through the machine like 3 times, taking more off each time, rather embarrassing.....and....not to mention trying to play at night in a hotel room, probably would have been kicked out - so back at day 1....
Oh well, it's still so much fun and become a part of my daily routine, its going to be horrible when I have to go out of town for odd weeks though the year...wish I could find an unbreakable little quiet one to take along.
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Awe thanks fiddlerman, appreciate that
On a trip last year at the end of a day working at a ranch - I stumbled on a retirees church group get together in a barn on the facilities - they had steel guitars, washboards and such, singing and dancing, it was awesome, I borrowed a fiddle and fumbled through amazing grace with them (that was all I could play from memory) it was the best time ever....they said they did that at least every 2 weeks, and it kept them young...How fun and inspiring!
Hello everyone.. despite some crazy obstacles. I am still practicing more. I will never give up the 100 day challenge. For now I am at about 5/7 days.
I had bit of a health thing.... and now a busy week at work.
But I love that this challenge had put me in a place to see that 15-30 every day is helping me.
Also recording and watching my hellbent crazy bowing is helping me to at least see why I have some issues with flowing sound.
Cheers... keep up the awesome work.
Toni
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Day 36. Five weeks to get Richard Strauss's Don Quixote from sight-reading to concert performance. Practiced some of the trickier bits tonight.
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Fiddlerman said
Great job everyone. Practice makes perfect, or at least brings you closer.
@ Andrew - I don't know how many times I've played Richard Strauss's Don Quixote. Beautiful Poem....
Don Quixote and Don Juan are probably a toss up for me.
It's taking a lot more woodshedding than most pieces I've played, even as a section violist who doesn't have to play the very extensive principal viola solos. Especially Variation VII, "The Ride Through the Air," where there isn't any way to avoid awkward position shifts.
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I almost made it to day 50 when my left elbow got injured, so I haven't been able to play in about a week. I tried to play for 10 minutes on Monday and it hurt way too bad. It's very slowly improving. My doctor said it's a tendon and nerve combo, that she didn't think anything snapped or tore, but probably got stretched, and the nerve got put in the mix, too (feeling the pain down to my pinky and ring fingers). When I start playing again, I'm going to start back where I left off. I'm just really frustrated at not being able to play right now, and am not sure when I can trust trying to.
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Sorry to hear that.
To determine when it's ok to play again, I'd suggest starting from a position that doesn't hurt, like holding the violin by the neck. If the pain level shoots up at any point in the process (including that one), stop and figure "not yet". Do the normal things, at maybe 3/4 or 7/8 speed. (Do it to slow and you'll have unexpected fatigue to deal with.)
At this stage, I'd try that every 3 or 4 days, maybe even a week apart.
To keep it from driving you quite as mad, you might also try some weird stuff - play it left handed, or right handed but like a cello (anchoring the bottom will take some figuring unless you're limber enough to sit cross-legged for a while), etc. As long as it doesn't cause pain, it shouldn't hurt, and you'll undoubtedly learn a few interesting things. (I can't tell you what, because I haven't done it.)
Re the playing left-handed - I had an experience many years ago. I got my right wrist hurt fencing foil against a natural-born saber fencer. Since that class was most of my social life, I didn't want to give it up for 6-8 weeks, so I started practicing left-handed. Things were horrible for about two days, then suddenly, all my reflexes and training seemed to map over in mirror image, and I could fence left handed 95% as well as I could right handed. Don't know if that will happen with violin. I tried playing left-handed once, and it was horribly awkward, and I had no strong reason to keep working at it. But if you can bow left-handed without pain, it'd be something to do that would keep your mind sharp, at least. (It'd be a nice stunt to pull on people when you want to show off, too. )
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I tried it out last night, just avoiding the G string, I knew that angle would hurt way too bad. I could only play a few minutes, then just settled for open string bowing, leaving my left arm just at my side, not holding the fiddle, since fine tuning bowing is never a bad thing. I had to ice my elbow for a while after that little bit of playing.
I definitely wouldn't be able to bow with my left arm with how my elbow is, I can't straighten it out without pain either, which is annoying, but it's at least slowly getting better, just not as fast as I wish it would. It'll get there, I'm just impatient, haha.
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More tilting at windmills. Still woodshedding Don Quixote.
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@coolpinkone not as fast as I'd like, but at least getting better slowly. Had my first lesson since hurting it yesterday, and it was a bit rough, had to ice my elbow a bit when I got home, and that was with taking it easy through my lesson, only played maybe 15 minutes, and not straight, and most of the time was spent discussing things,. So I decided I'm taking more time away from playing after that. My elbow just isn't ready for any real playing yet, and I kind of new that, but had to try.
I have the next 2 weeks off from lessons while my teacher goes to perform in Texas at the South by Southwest festival, so I think I'm going to at least give my elbow the rest of this week off before I try playing again.
If anything, I made it to my day 50, lol. So I guess my 100 days will just have to be split in half, haha.
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Still going strong, Missing only a few days for travel or horrible days of work. I've already met 2 of my 4 goals, sort of ignoring 1 of the 4 and have 1 left to finish. I really do want to learn Jesu, Joy of Man's Desire, I'm having a hard time with some transitions, so I promise not to forget that last goal, I'll just ignore it for a bit...
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