Thought you may find my recent experience interesting; I hope so.  As I mentioned above, I [just] went to my very first fiddle camp.  It was here in North San Diego Cty, called the Julian Family Fiddle Camp.  WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE!  Btw, this post is long, so pull up a chair & a mug....

It was a three-day long camp, however I was only able to attend one day [yesterday] from 8am - 9pm.  I was the only attendee with less than 1 year of experience [I'm now on my 14th week].  I was able to attend 5 classes/workshops with three different teachers.  The two general classes had approx. 12 students each while each workshop had approx. 2 - 5 students; incredible one-on-one with some fantastic teachers; Jane Frey, Katie Harvey, and Calvin Vollrath.

In the general classes, an instructor would teach the class 2 - 3 different songs, on-the-fly, e.g., "Old Joe Clark", "Boil the Cabbage", "Cripple Creek", "Devil's Reel", etc..  This was such an overwhelming experience initially & it could've been very intimidating, but the teachers really made me feel at ease and totally un-pressured.... so I learned quickly how to jump back into a song if I get lost at any point.  So although it was a struggle, it worked,,, hey, that's how I learned to swim, tossed in the deep end of the pool, lol.

Then in each workshop, a couple different techniques were taught.  One, for example, was arm vibrato.  I've been trying to get a decent vibrato for the past 8 weeks, with limited success.  The teacher of this class showed us the "trick" or key element, that, as of yet, I've not seen anyone point out specifically in any video.  I've watched FM's vibrato clips endlessly and until re-watching them closely again today, never once noticed him using this one key element, but he clearly uses this element but doesn't specifically mention it so I never picked up on it.  The key element is to keep your index finger joint [the joint where your index finger connects to your hand] away from the neck [during the vibrato] so your hand can move freely back and forth, while using your thumb pad under [and only slightly to the side] of the neck as an opposing force to the vibrato finger, to hold the fiddle in place.  Using this key element, I had a really decent vibrato going within 5 minutes.  If you re-watch FM's vibrato clips you'll see exactly what I'm talking about,,, I just never once noticed it.

Then there were other techniques that were taught, all of which have already improved my playing, e.g., completely relaxing my bowing arm shoulder, a couple great techniques for playing double-stops, and on and on.  In one day, I learned five new songs and about a dozen incredible new playing techniques.  And I never had the experience of playing with other people before,,,, VERY weird experience.

Here I have to apologize for either one of two faults; either for rambling on about this experience, or for skimming over some very useful tips.

And, oddly, although it was a VERY worthwhile experience, it was actually a bit disturbing for me.... There were 50 students at this camp ranging from 7 - 70 in age; there were 7 yr olds playing the crap out of the fiddle, and everyone there in my age group has been playing for 20+ years.  With me just turning 57, where am I really going with the violin/fiddle.  Not trying to be morose about it, but it really pisses me off that I waited so late in life to start learning to play!  This is actually the single reason that I put in so many hours each week practicing and having fun with it,,, but I'm still pissed off about it, lol.

Thanks NV; yeah, if there's a camp available to you, you might want to try it.  I think the staff/teachers make or break the camp experience.

And thanks for the "Old Man Consolations", haaaaaaaa; yeah, but remember when you thought a 21 yr old was old..... age is clearly relative,,, until you can actually SEE the sands dropping from your hourglass, lol.

Thanks FM, I know that's exactly true.  I am having a BALL with this experience, and truly expect that I'll be playing [at this phase, trying to play] until either I can't lift both arms [and the one-armed fiddler vid does come to mind, lol], or I can't find time to play because I'm too busy changing my adult diaper.

You know, it's almost like finding the love of your life, and you're thoroughly enjoying that love/person, and then you think, why did I waste my time on all these other knuckleheads when I could've spent that invaluable time with the right person.

Btw, I wrote that note above at about 2:30am this morning after having had my share and my buddy's share of Guiness.  It was a moment of a "pity party", it was either bitch and moan on Fiddlerman.com or "drunk text" an old girlfriend,,,, yeah, so I guess I "drunk forumed", haaaa

Haaaaaaaaa!  That's some funny s#!t right there!!!!!!!!!!