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Hey guys and gals!
Well its been ages since i put anything up to critique so here goes. Its a very simplified version of ashokan farewell....and only piece of it...cause i am having issues learning the second half... but i can use help on form and well anything else you guys see/hear!! sorry for the squeaks. i swear as soon as i turn on the camera i forget where my strings are on my violin 
I'm loading the video on here so if it doesn't work I'll edit it and put up a youtube version! (though ya might want to prepare your ears before you listen *gulp*)
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
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though i cant give any advice on form since i know mine has many flaws, i will say its nice seeing another lefty! it sounds good though, camera jitters crazy aren't they? who knew one eye can effect how some of us play? and dont worry about the second half, how do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time 
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Hi Hi..
I am working on the same piece. I don't have any issues to report. I save that for others.
I am playing that song too now.
I think it sounded good and your tempo was even. I listened in stereo at my desk. It sounded pretty.
Such a pretty song and you are doing great and it sounds good.
Thanks for posting.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Aloha rockinglr33,
I heard Ray Unger play that and fell in love with it. Of course, he made it seem pretty easy to play everything, including the ornaments 
Still, you have much more intonation than do I and your version was very nice indeed. I can offer nothing but praise, as you are much more advanced, but I will ask you to keep it up. You are an inspiration to me, and probably others as well. When you get to the inclusion of the ornaments, please make another video. If you sign up for BluegrassDaddy.com, which is only $7.99/month, you can download backing tracks to add as well - it's just like playing with a band, albeit not live (DISCLAIMER: I am not a member of that website or are paid by them, but I recognize a pretty good deal when I see one). I don't know if his version is the same key, however.
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I think I detected camera jitters. Other than that you're looking good and it's coming along nicely. The ornaments, which are minimal (a few slides, a couple of double stops, one or two rolls), can easily be added once you're comfortable playing the melody, which looks like should be soon.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
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I really liked those little pinky slides up to D.
Intonation was pretty good. A little flat, I believe, on the F#'s near 0:44, 0:56, and 1:09.
I laughed when you opened your eyes and looked shocked after missing the last note of the first part. Ha ha, you knew you'd done wrong.
Your left-hand form looks very good. Very economical.
I liked it a lot. Thanks.
Learning the second part is the perfect opportunity for learning to learn by ear. What if you put the sheet away and listen to it a lot and make sure you can sing it or hum it or whistle it from memory? Then pick up your fiddle and sound it out by ear one note at a time---match the sounds that you remember to the finger places on the fingerboard. If you hit wrong notes, don't worry about it---just fix it. Then keep playing it without reading anything. Of course you'll hit wrong notes when you're developing the skill---nobody is born with the skill, as far as I know. It will take some time, but it gets easier with each tune. Imagine being able to immediately play any simple tune that you can sing. Don't think it can't happen.
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@RockingLR33 - nicely done on a great Jay Ungar piece! I did an audio only version some time back - yours is much better! I'm not really in a position to give meaningful critique, enough to say I enjoyed it, and yes, the ornamentation will come once you have complete and total familiarity with the tune! It's a tune I go back to from time to time as a part of day-to-day practice, or if I'm struggling with something new!
I do have one comment - and it's nothing at all to do with the performance itself - the video as posted is 36MB long - unfortunately - some of us out in the "backwoods" have real poor broadband - like 512kbits - that's about 47KByte/sec - it took 12 minutes to complete! I had to download it separately to get it to play through without continually stopping every couple of seconds. Posting on YouTube it gets re-formatted to a somewhat lower video resolution although the audio is largely unaffected - and is (just about) capable of being streamed without too many hesitations. But, it's your choice - do what best suits you! It's MY problem for living where I do! LOL
Thanks for the post,
Bill
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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That's one of my favorite songs to play. I play it a bit faster though. Great start! Keep it up.
Opportunity is often missed because it wears suspenders and looks like hard work.
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Thank you everyone for such kind praise! I'm my own worst enemy so its always nice to hear others opinions and critiques!!!! you guys are so kind!!!! Thank you all for always being my inspiration to try and progress and continue my violin studies regardless of how much or little time i have to practice!, or how good or bad i think i am playing!! I would never have continued to pursue this dream without the help this awesome forum!!
oh wow, i didn't realize how big of a mile that was...oopps, i'll see if i can play with my camera settings on my computer (I'm using a mac with the Photo Booth app) to see if i can trim that down a bit so it won't take nearly so much time for some of ya'll to see so sorry @BillyG !! I will see what i can do to work that out!!! I just don't like posting it publicly on youtube hahaha...but then again might get some critiques there to if i do that! oh and if anyone knows how to stop it from mirroring the image that would be awesome! I am a righty(sorry @HotHands my hats of to you to be able to play left handed!!) by nature, it just looks left in the video ....I'm not the best tech person! hahaha
@RosinedUp Thank you so much for the praise and thats a great idea for the second half. I think i just might just have to try that! I learned the little slides by listening and then just playing it how i felt it should be played, so i think i shall take that one step farther and just try the second half by ear!! it'll only get better with time and patience!!!
@iBud thank you! I'll have to check that website out! it sounds very interesting and its always nice to have backing tracks to help keep rhythm!
I'm always up to hear more critiques so please if you think of something or see something you didn't before please let me know!!
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
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You can post youtube videos that are unlisted and then just share them with us. That way they don't show up on your regular channel to anyone who happens by. That's what I do lol.
Opportunity is often missed because it wears suspenders and looks like hard work.
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I love this song!! I have it memorized EXCEPT on occasion when I am playing at the jam I attend.
You sound great. What I heard though is something I have wondering about. The repeat of a couple of notes.
Teach says you play both slurred notes distinctly but using same bow direction, but I know in many bluegrass tunes these same notes that are slurred are played as one note held for the full count of both notes.
Can anyone explain?
This is the version I am using. It does not contain an example of what I am asking about.
Violinist start date - May 2013
Fiddler start date - May 2014
FIDDLE- Gift from a dear friend. A 1930-40 german copy, of a french copy of a Stradivarius. BOW - $50 carbon fiber. Strings - Dominants with E Pirastro Gold string.
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@Schaick Thank you for the praise! I'm actually using the same piece of sheet music, but i kinda modified it to how i like it to sound and how i "feel" it should be played
ok I may be wrong here in my explanation as i'm just getting into it myself....When two of the SAME notes are linked (with the little line simlar to the first two notes of this piece) you play them together as one regular note on the same bow stroke. if they are not linked then it's two different bow stokes(one played on up stroke one on down stroke or visa versa depending on how it lands when you're playing or as instructed by the sheet music). I'm not sure how you could play the same note, distinctly on the same bow stroke. But then again I'm very new at slides so it might be something a little more advanced that my book and what i've looked up doesn't cover.
again hopefully someone more knowledgable will come along and have a better explanation.
I hope you put up a video of your playing! its really such a fun song to play! and so easy to get a feeling for!!! Good luck!!!
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
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Yes, you both have it. When there are two or more instances of the same note, joined by the curved line it is called a "tie." and it is played as a single note whose duration is the sum of the duration of the notes that are tied. When two or more different notes are joined together by a curved line, it is called a "slur" and the notes are played by playing all of the slurred notes with a single bow stroke.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
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I was going to try to say the same thing as Uzi but would have probably floundered. Thanks Uzi for a precise uncomplicated answer.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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