Not sure what happened to my last video... but I'm doing this again!

Thank you all for the encouraging words~ Sorry about the weird angle, I did the same thing with my very first practice videos. XD Tried to do better with this one, still not quite right but I think it's an improvement. I'll get my setup figured out soon.

@Mimi Aysha I hear ya on recording. I used to start over and over and have to cut so much video. It's definitely the pressure of someone watching. At least with recording we can try and try and pick the best performance and toss the rest. I just remind myself even with studio recordings and movies, professionals have to perform several times and then select the best. Also, I'm determined to show it's never too late to learn something new, that we don't need to have started in kindergarten to do well, and not to be discouraged with being terrible at the beginning. Everyone is bad at first, and it's easier to believe that when we can see the awkward beginnings with the growth.

As promised, here's my current practice routine. I start off with open string bowing exercises from Alison Sparrow (The Online Piano and Violin Tutor on Youtube). This is to help me with bowing technique and changing strings without having to worry too much about notes. I need to work on keeping my hand relaxed and not hitting other strings. Next I work on exercises 2-9 from Essential Elements for Strings (took it from my son from when he was in orchestra, he decided to learn clarinet instead). Same thing, working on bowing without having to think too much about notes, and also to work on my counting. When I learned piano, I depended too much on playing by ear so my timing is really off. I need to start working with a metronome. After that I did a couple of scales. I usually do just the G scale, long bows for each note and using my 4th finger going up, and using open strings instead of 4th finger to check my intonation on the way down. Then I do the scale again playing about 4 notes per bow direction. I did it a little differently here because I forgot what I was doing, and attempted a D scale because the Etude I was going to be playing next is in the key of D (which ended up being unnecessary because the Etude didn't play high enough to need to play a C#). It's Etude 1 from Solos & Etudes 1 for violin. It's supposed to be used with All For Strings Book 1 but I don't have that one yet, not sure if I'll get it to use instead of Essential Elements, or to use all three books, or just do without. I also attempted to play "Rambling" from S&E1, but was a little thrown off and have decided to stick with one thing from that book each week. To finish off the practice I play a fun song that I'm either learning or already familiar with. Preferably something I have memorized so I can just feel the music instead of worry about reading notes. For now I'm continuing to work on Swallowtail Jig for St Patrick's day, but I'm looking for a song to work on for next month. The video is only 15 minutes long, but I'm usually more thorough in practicing and aim to practice for at least 30 minutes.

@bluesviolin Doesn't bother me! I'm glad you shared that video! I went through a major jazz phase in jr high but never thought of trying jazz violin. After watching you I'm reconsidering! That was a lot of fun to watch. I know movies are a different story than music - in order to perform music live you need to know something well enough to get through well enough at least the audience doesn't notice mistakes - but some movie scenes have taken up to 156 takes! And people can still find goofs. The fact you can see where you need work shows you're growing.

I didn't think my goal was ever going to be to perform live. I thought I'd be just fine recording videos and sharing my growth or making "music videos" of my best recordings. I got sucked into StreetJelly, though and I think I'm gonna do it. Looks like I've got a lot of work to do improving technique, learning more advanced skills, and learning enough songs well enough to perform a full set. Yikes!