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I'm so happy to share with you my first achievement, reaching my first milestone on the journey, first tune completed (just barely and with many mistakes as everything still needed to be improved).
It's a work of thanks to this community, all members who has encouraged and shared with me knowledge and tips, and a special thanks to Pierre for his dedication, tutorials, helps and sharing his great techniques. It would not have been possible without you all.
Finally, my dream come true, after 40+ years, I can play a tune on a violin. I would like to dedicate this milestone achievement to my beloved father who was my first formal music teacher. He would have been very happy and proud knowing that I could play something on a violin, the instrument he could only dream of.
The tune is more of practice bits and pieces in which I put all the techniques (just about everything there are from Pierre's tutorials and tips) I've learned after nine and half months together, still a beginner with many mistakes so it would serve as a progress report/documentary.
So here is an old fart in his first tune (barely completed), The Kiss from The Last of The Mohicans movie.
A pat on the back with "....Oh well,....keep trying, Ok" would be welcome, lol.
Robert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....._16VPqLro4
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Well done, I think you have done your father proud.
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Hi Robert,
Good job! I really enjoyed watching and listening to your very first video submission! And very nice to see you so now I can put a face with your name. Great progress in your 9 months of playing and I hope you have as much fun on the next 9 months. Thanks for doing the video.
Magnificent....... I love your vibrato.
Keep up the great work, Robert. 
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I can't believe you've only been playing 9 months. You've made remarkable progress in that time. Yes, your father would be proud and I am patting you on the back.
Thanks for sharing with us Robert.
The most beautiful things in life cannot be touched or seen. They must be felt with the heart. ~Helen Keller~
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Such a good job! You're going to have a wonderful bow arm.
I am a violinist cycling around the world with my dog, Fiji, and my violin. http://www.FiJaPAW.com
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Great job would love to know where you got the music from, been wanting to learn that for ages.
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Robert, I am sure that you father would have been proud, happy and impressed by what you accomplished.
Keep up the great work. I look forward to following your progress even more so now. 
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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That is a technically dificult piece of music for me to play so Im givin you Props! Kudos and a double handed patting on the back! Its also one of my favorite melodies. Good Job and keep it going. It will get so much easier and more fluid the more you play it!
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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ratvn > That was SWEET!!! I hope I can get to that level in the future. Your fingers were dancing on the neck >> yeah you hit a few sour notes here and there but the fingering you were doing was really nice. The bowing was really relaxed and controlled. I really got to work on that. You have great vibrato > the vibrato was SWEET!!!! I really enjoyed your vid.
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Thank you all for your kind words.
@Iaen: thanks for your encouragement.
@Steve: I've enjoyed many of your vids so it's my turn to post one.
@Fiddlestix: thanks for your words, I have a long way to go and will try hard.
@LindaK: oh, you're so sweet and thank you for encouraging. I found out that playing violin is also such a good meditation for the body and mind, and it helps regaining some dedicate motion controls I've lost after treatments.
@FiJaPAW: I've listened to your practice run of the Baroque piece. That is so awesome. Your bowing is powerful, expressive and yet very sweet. Wish that you could post some vids of your playing so us beginners can learn from.
@scotsfiddller: thank you, it will be a long time with hard work for me to connect part A and B without a backing track. Actually, part A and B are counter melody of each other, sounds so beautiful playing together. I envision making a backing track of simple flute voice (Native American flute or so) to fill in between and at last section soloing part B while the violin taking part A together with some acoustic drum voices keeping the rhythm. That will be a future project. Tell me if I can PM you the music sheet.
@Fiddlerman: thank you so much, the vibrato maestro. Most the stuffs I've learned are from your tutorials and tips but it will take me a long time to pick up some of your great techniques.
@pfish@ thanks for your kind words and yes, you're right that it will get better with more practice. I've seen your vids and really admired that you looked so natural and at ease. Oh, men, being very very camera shy, when I turned on my phone camera, my fingers started frozen up and my mind went somewhere else. But it would not be nice to thank everyone here just to submit an audio only for my progress report, so I try my best.
@StoneDog: thank you for your encouragement. I've enjoyed your vid very much. You're be in an advanced level in no time.
Thanks again everyone.
Best Regards,
Robert
Great job You've done here, Robert! And i like your violin's sound!
What a lovely tune 
Do You have the sheet music of it?
Hope to see more of your videos!
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Good playing. Nice sounding violin, as well.
I think your father should be proud, and I salute you for thinking of dedicating this performance to his memory.
Bravo.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Thank you for the kind words.
@scotsfiddller: I PMed you the music sheet. Hope you like it.
@Mad_Wed: thank you, Naska for your encouragement. I've enjoyed many of your vids and actually been trying to imitate your excellent bowing, haha...I did not get my wrist as smoothly as yours yet, I'm trying hard. A PM with the music attached has been sent to you.
@DanielB: thank you so much, you're so thoughtful.
I recorded it with my phone so it's kinda poor. Sometimes in the future, I need to review and learn your method of real recording so it can sound better.
The violin is a Guarnerius copy, about 1" wider and a bit thicker than a Stradivarius copy hence the bigger internal volume, with one piece Carpathian spruce top and one piece maple back. It sounds darker but a bit slower in reaction.
I did the bridge for it with very poor feet fitting, then after reading your post about the "toy car" then I got it refixed but still not quite right due to its too thin feet now, so it did not sound as full as it could be, plus it's still not fully open up yet. Redoing the bridge is enlisted sometime in the future.
Haha, I learned from my mistake though, and thank you for sharing your experiments and tools with all of us here.
Best Regards,
Robert
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Thanks for the music Robert, I will try to play it soon.
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Nice work mate
I've been at it for a year now and still 'no' vibrato for me. 
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of 
..... What was I saying????
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Thank you, John.
You sounds just fine without vibrato and there are many music styles don't use vibrato anyway.
If you practice then it will come in no time John. I only practice vibrato after a few beers so it's really relaxing, haha....
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This is one of my bucket list songs...I lOOOOOOVE LOOOOOOVE it.. I am so proud for you. Good Job. Keep up the good work. Thank you!
Toni
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
Thanks for the music, Robert!!! 
LOL! My right hand is not so good as You could think. Fingers are too loosen and overcompensate the lack of the wrist flexibility. My teacher says that we will fix my fingers later - not so important right now. So, You better follow the own way and see what is more comfortable for You! =) It maybe looks nice but it's not totally right, hahahaha! XD
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