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Honorary advisor
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Hi everyone,
My name is Lyle and this is my first post. I know there is a first post section on the forum, but I also have a video so I figured this section would work just as well.
I have been interested in playing the violin for a long time and actually purchased a Cecilio CVN-200 about four years ago, but unfortunately it just ended up collecting dust. However, I held on to it and about two weeks ago I took it out of the case, got on YouTube, and now I'm here.
The video is 3 minutes long (I play a couple of different songs). If anyone has and critiques or comments, I would love to hear them.
P.S. Thanks to Fiddlerman for organizing and running such an awesome website.
Never mind maneuvers, just go straight at them.
Honorary advisor
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Hi, Lyle. Welcome and congratulations on posting your first video. I recognized all the pieces except the last one. What was it?
I've learned so much from my mistakes that I've decided to make some more.
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Welcome aboard Lyle 
All the constructive criticism I have to offer is as following:
Practice, practice, practice 
But for two weeks of practice I think it was a great performance! Keep up the good work! It is also very commendable you started out with posting a video! We always like to see this kind of initiative!
See you around!
- Aleksander
"Art, as far as it is able, follows nature, as a pupil imitates his master; thus your art must be, as it were, God's grandchild."
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Hi Gail.
The last one was the beginning of the theme to the film Legends of the Fall. I've just started to learn it so I don't have much of it to play yet.
Never mind maneuvers, just go straight at them.
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Thanks Aleive.
I don't have a good mirror to practice my bow strokes in front of, and I didn't realize until watching this video that I was using my shoulder so much.
Also, I have never played an instrument before or even given a second thought to the difference between a d or an a or a c, etc. So you are right, practice, practice, practice.
Never mind maneuvers, just go straight at them.
Pretty good. The right notes will happen with some more practice but you are looking pretty good with holding the violin, bow, etc. (What's under the cloth?)
I also noticed that you did not seem to have any sheet music in sight so were playing from memory. That's very useful later on.
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Thanks Oliver,
I have a shoulder rest and the standard chin rest that came with it under the cloth. I didn't feel very comfortable or natural in the beginning to hold the instrument but now it feels pretty good.
I can read sheet music, but very slowly. Certainly not fast enough to read and play at the same time. I also find that I am concentrating so much on what my left hand is doing that focus on anything else would be difficult.
But I am having fun, and that's all that matters, right?
Never mind maneuvers, just go straight at them.
Sounds like you are just about on schedule. The violin is one distraction after another for everyone. (except FM!)
Yeah, it is about having fun. If that ever stopped I would give it up.
You have to pay attention to reading because this will later impact your repertoire size. There is lots of fun music out there.
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Awesome
Wow
sounds pretty good to me!
That's a really good job, Lyle! Welcome to the forum! =)
As was said: Try to keep the bow straight (parallel to the bridge) - if You'll keep it in mind, the right movement will come by itself.
Focus on the intonation and try to keep the left wrist as straight as possible =)
Nice start! 
Lyle, I am not qualified to critique anyone, but I would say that if you've been playing for only a couple weeks, I'm glad you decided to take your violin out of storage. Great job! 
Dee
Honorary tenured advisor
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Good job Lyle!
When I first started one problem I had was getting some flexibility in my bow wrist . If you can loosen up a little it will make it flow better. FM has a video on this but I cant remember which one it is . Check them all out!
Anyway good job and good luck.
No matter where you go, there you are!
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Welcome to the forum Lyle,
The members have done a great job with giving advice and I am sure that you noticed most of it yourself after listening to your performance.
My first advice for you is to play through it a few times slowly while taking the time to adjust each and every note. You obviously have an ear for music since plenty of notes are right on. We sometimes focus on one particular task and leave out another. Another thing you can do is mark the music, if you have any, with arrows pointing up or down depending on which way you should adjust. Just for learning purposes.
Having said all this I must also say that you produce a good sound already which means you are feeling the right bow pressures and bow speeds fairly early in the game. Great work for just having dished out that violin a few weeks ago. That violin has a nice tone too.
Thanks for the post. Keep up the good work.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Wow..as a new new newbie... I am so so very very impressed.
I know my violin is going to make a good tone someday like yours.
Thanks for posting Congratulations.
Toni
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Thank you everyone for all the advice and support. It's nice to have somewhere you can go to get both.
I think I have a pretty good list of things to work on now. When I practice a little more and hopefully get a little better, I will post another video and go from there.
Never mind maneuvers, just go straight at them.
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