Plucking the E string with the left pinkie was how I was taught to play the bell on Orange Blossom Special. I didn't know there was any other way to play it other than with the left hand.

Plucking it like a mandolin is one way to practice fingering with the left hand while being VERY quiet with instrument within the tight confines of most seating arrangements and not draw attention to yourself. Most background noise, esp other live music, will overpower the tiny plink-plink. Useful, but not a generally a concert-ready skill except as an accent like this tune.

My parents were both born and raised in Stonega, VA near Big Stone Gap northeast of the Cumberland Gap where VA, TN, and KY all meet. Dad moved to IN, where I was born and raised, in the mid-50s looking for work after the Korean War.

As soon as you mention A, B, C, # or b, you're talking theory. Do, re, mi is a modal harmonic that's used as the notes in singing. They aren't notes per se but vocal changes in pitch. Do low is a harmonic of Do middle and Do high. Thus when the Bass sings Do, Tenor sings Do, Alto sings Do, and Soprano sings Do, it's like they're all singing 1 note, not 4 because of harmonic resonance: sound waves of different wavelength in numeric sync build each other as 1 wave. (My music training was focused in vocal, not instrumental. I can read shaped notes because it's related to the Do, Re, Mi scale. The church I grew up in was strictly acapella.)

The staff and clefs and all that is Western classical music theory dating from the 16th century (or before) as mandated by the Church as opposed to modal harmonics which influenced music among the common people and thus was viewed negatively by the powers on high. That's also ignoring Eastern, Middle Eastern, Indian, and African music theory which view music and harmonies in different ways altogether. The guitar moving West went from 4 to 12 to our modern 6-stringed wonder (acoustically unchanged since 1850) but moving East it became the 24-string sitar: different notes, chording structures and harmonies. It's 'translatable' to Western notation, but so is English to Hindi.

Obviously, music theory at a basic level must be taught to be able to communicate musically at some level. The advanced / extreme music theory I was reading earlier named every note in every scale, named every chord relationship in all the scales and came up with elaborate naming and shorthand notation for describing these relationships. Such nomenclature isn't communicative but a hinderance to communication.

At the lowest level of violin playing, there's no notes at all. We could represent the notes as colored dots on the fingerboard w 7 colors of the rainbow representing a lettered note in order: Red = A, Orange = B, etc. Even as we can see a blend of colors and shades between colors we can hear a blend of sounds and shades between notes.

At an even more basic level, we can give the aspiring student less help than Prof Harold Hill from "The Music Man" with his "Think System". No instruction on holding it, on fingering it, on bowing it, or anything. "Figure it out yourself, kid. I did. Self-taught students are always best. Play with it. Education will stunt your growth."

In some respects, those statements are true, but as a whole these are all lies.

1) No one is truly "self-taught". They learned from others, from listening to music, from books, from other instruments, etc. With no music education at all, they couldn't understand what other musicians are talking about or be able to ask a question.

2) Play comes from a basic understanding of something. Every child asks fundamental questions of even simple objects in order to figure out what it is and how it works. Boys often ask Daddy what a new toy does. How Dad plays with it is how they continue to play with it. Daddy uses a plastic hammer to hit his head; he hits his sister on the head. Dad runs the car along the floor and makes motor noises; he runs the car along the floor and makes motor noises. If you give a violin and bow to a monkey, would they "play" with it by bowing and fingering the strings? Or would they play with it by using both as clubs to whack each other over the head? Play comes from a basis in acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior which restricts use as well as promotes understanding in the full range of uses. A Ferrari is a fast car, so long as it confines itself to paved roads, on its side of the dividing line and finds empty, legal areas to reach its full potential. The Autobahn and Montana are great places to hit 150+ mph, downtown NYC or a dirt road are not.

3) Limited education is what stunts growth. I knew that my former education stunted my growth because I had a stunted education. In the end, the responsibility of learning is on the student. A student seeking answers will find them. A student not seeking answers will be forever ignorant. As I often say to my kids, "If you want to learn, I can't stop you. If you don't want to learn, I can't make you."

BTW, turning the wheel right to go right only works while going forward. When going in reverse with a trailer, you have to turn the wheel left to get the trailer to go right. After a while, it becomes 2nd nature, but that's why I teach and they practice. It's all arcs and angles when in Reverse. A few basic rules of thumb, and they learn it quickly enough. A confused teacher makes a confused student.

@DanielB 

"What do you feel you are still missing at this time?" - The only thing I'm missing is my instrument to practice and 'play' with as well as practice time. Just waiting on UPS to deliver it. In a few months, I may feel that I'm missing something else, but that's it for now.

It's like I was saying: Theory, at some level, is essential to playing, but beyond that level, it's not helpful. Where you're at in your music education & skill will determine what level is helpful or not. Elementary theory is essential for ALL music (staffs, clefs, notes, etc.). High school level theory is the common 25% that will help everyone and is essential for well-rounded playing (chords, major, minor, starts, endings, etc.). College level theory is the uncommon 25% that can get added as we progress to advanced levels of specific styles (classical chords, Irish chords, country chords, metal chords, etc.), but the remaining 50% of the chords and relationships probably won't be needed by any except the Doctorate level music majors especially since I have no intention of playing (or even listening to) Jazz.

I would agree with your parents as far as a music CAREER is concerned. When starting at age 3-6, a child is obviously doing what they were made to do, and they have plenty of time to "waste" practicing. Having 15 years of experience under their belt by the time they turn 18 makes them highly skilled as they begin their music career which can be poor paying at the first while they feel invulnerable but can grow as they have 20 - 40 years to devote to it and be more lucrative as they reach their 50s and need the money. Thus semi-retirement as a classic from age 60-80 moves them from the spotlight as an influential player (aka Earl Scruggs).

Compare that to me, 2 years of violin under my belt and picking it back up at 40. If I had the time to practice for 15 years, that'll begin my career at 55. 20 years for a mediocre career leaves me an "also ran" at 75. Is it reasonable to assume that I can make music a career? Not really. Can it still be a beneficial hobby and journey of personal exploration? Absolutely! Can I then use my musical hobby to encourage my children and start them early? Possibly. I won't spend the time or money to encourage what I see no value in. Here in West Texas, there are a lot of parents who push their boys to play football and strive for going pro. ("Friday Night Lights" was set in Odessa/Midland for a reason.) I have also seen the results of failure from the MANY kids who didn't make it. Joint injuries leaving them a cripple for life. 1:100 will go pro; 99:100 will get hurt along the way. I don't like those odds. My boys aren't playing football. 1:1000 musicians make any real money in music. 0:1000 get scarred for life by their instrument. I like those odds, even if they don't succeed.

My mother wrote an acapella gospel song we sang as a duet with good response. I'm currently imagining a mashup between metalized "Orange Blossom Special" and "Long, Black Train". Music begins in the imagination and ends when it hits your ear. Composition is merely the process of making imagined music audible. I'm not talking about becoming Andrew Lloyd Webber or anything. I like composing, even if I don't want a career as a composer.

Written score is precise while chord notation is imprecise. Listening to the music is very imprecise since it depends on the ear and the feeling that was conveyed and is returned. In verbal communication, 2 people rarely use the exact same words to express the exact same feeling or thought. That's why it's ESSENTIAL to write it down. We can argue what Jesus said based on a sermon we both HEARD, but the argument ceases as soon as we look up the verse and read the exact words that were used. (A new argument can then begin on what He meant. Even in the 21st century or beyond, we aren't going to "outgrow" music notation and written score. All we've done with computers is be able to print more paper faster. PDFs are awesome since I can download what someone else wrote and print it myself as opposed to waiting until it hits my local music store and spending money to buy it.

In truth, recorded music has had the biggest impact on home musicians since professionals can be heard repetitively at home vs the need to learn an instrument and play at home. Why learn to play piano when you can have a private concert by Liberace every night if you want? The desire to hear music can overpower any fear of inability to perform when given the right motivation.

Any language or sub-language has the ability to exclude as well as include. Renaissance musicians were often in an elite club which sought to exclude those not in that club. By writing shorthand that you had to go to school to learn, you raise a wall to the common folk who can't read it or write it. Even particular conservatories could write their own style of music for just themselves. Since reality required all schools to work together after school, a compromise notation was accepted and taught. At some point, the shorthand was less short and more confusing than simply spelling it all out in notes.

@Schaick 

I played Fife in the Keesler AFB Fife & Drum Corps, so I understand what you're saying with your flute comments. Not all instruments are designed to chord since they're incapable of playing more than one note at a time. My violin experience translated well to it. All the music was sheet and only used for practice since we had to memorize all the pieces for marching. We did "Yankee Doodle", "British Grenadiers" and another one which marching in several Mardi Gras parades in Southern Mississippi and Louisiana throughout Feb 1995. The last parade I was in was on the Monday before Fat Tuesday through downtown N'Orleans (pre-Katrina). Beautiful city and fun parade, but I had to throw the pants and socks away from all the beer soaked into them.

If the Jam leader who is in an Irish band doesn't want to play Irish music at the jam, then I don't have high hopes that his band will survive or go very far.

"Fact is, a lot of the melody notes usually come from the chords.  There's a connection, a relationship there. Separating them in thought or practice doesn't really make sense." - I disagree with this statement. I believe it is the other way around. When writing a song, you sing it, peck out the individual notes that you're singing to get the single note melody line, then enrich the tune by adding chords, harmonies, additional parts, etc. as is fitting with the emotion or message that you're trying to convey. Once it's fully written, the core of the song is the simple single-note melody that must be extracted to be understood or re-interpreted. A 300-page novel can be distilled to a 10 words summary or a 10 page children's book. If you can't distill the complicated down to its essence, it'll remain complicated.

"Geniuses make the complicated simple, and make the simple look complicated."

I didn't say that you can't make any money by starting older. All I said is that it's harder to have a long career and make a name for yourself the older you start.

Some career fields reward age while others reward youth. Pro sports rewards youth. Professional music is another that is EASIER when you're younger. The Rolling Stones might be planning their Geriatric Tour in 2016, but I don't see too many 70 year olds trying to tour their way to the top of the charts. The entire business feeds on youth and energy since most money for records and concerts come from the same youth market.

I'm NOT saying that there's NO money to be made starting older, just less. I'm glad to hear that you've been able to support yourself with your music. It's a rare treat for someone to get paid to do what they enjoy. I'm sorry that it wasn't able to be a full-time profession all the time, instead of just part of the time.

There are 4 factors that mark the difference between SOME money and LOTS of money.

Factor #1: Time and Timing. Young musicians are often more cutting edge or bleeding edge than older folks who tend to follow or jump off the trendwagon. Thus a younger musician tends to have an easier time finding the trend in music and riding the wave. The front of the wave = lots of money. Middle of the wave = some money. Back of the wave = no money. Gates and Jobs were at the front of the computer wave. Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney were at the front of the British rock'n'roll wave. What wave is starting now or about to start that you can get in front of? 

Factor #2: Options. When you put yourself out there, you have options. Some options fall in your lap; some you have to pursue. Either way, by pursuing music, you opened doors. That's why young musicians tend to run off to Nashville or LA, to open more doors. Sweetwater, TX isn't a music hotspot that calls to producers or musical talent scouts. Abilene? Maybe. Dallas or Austin? More likely. YouTube, on the other hand, opened doors for both Adele and Justin Beiber. Who knows, it might have opened the door for a fiddler or two that I've not heard of. 

Factor #3: Service. How many people are you able to serve at the same time. A sellout concert of 1 million serves a lot which translates into a lot of money. A Gold Album serves a lot of people for less time and translates into money. A tutor with one student this hour, only serves 1. At an income / hour basis, he might make $20 or $100 that hour, but how many students are paying that today, tonight, every week? If you could make $5/hr but serve an increasing number of people with the same hour of work, you've multiplied your income each time. Thus the hour of work to make a video tutorial can translate exponentially rather than directly. I think FiddlerMan has it right by going online. The limitation on a tutor's income is time. By going online, he is able to "tutor" more people at the same time and add multiple streams of income to his portfolio that, if done correctly, will grow over time without requiring continuing and additional time commitment.

Factor #4: The BIG thing is always the act itself. Original compositions delivered with a memorable performance attracts viewers online, gets fans, sells tickets and records. Producers want an artist who can draw a crowd. Crowds buy stuff. If you can get views, then you have an audience who can be sold. Some musicians are Internet only with CDs and T-shirts for sale online and avoiding the whole Major Record labels altogether.

Some of this might go back to training. Traditional training makes you trudge through a lot of old muck that no one wants to hear before you are given permission to get creative and do your own thing. That might take a long time. An abridged or thoughtful person can trudge through (or skip over) a lot of that muck faster. Prodigies tend to skip a LOT of muck.