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Fourth of July 2018 - Party !
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JamesRSmithJr
New Jersey, USA
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August 15, 2018 - 7:02 pm
Member Since: July 20, 2017
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@billyg , Please continue Strings on Sunday, I love it.  As a matter of fact my youngest daughter (of 4, yeah that's where my hair went) is getting married on Saturday.  Even though all of my family will be in town for it (2 sisters and theirs from SC), I have already told them, Sunday 5pm, Mandy will be on Street Jelly and I will be there.  No pressure Mandy :)

My lessons are Sunday afternoons, but I rush home to catch you all.  A highlight of my days.

I have yet to get anything up to performance standards, but I will be there some time in the near future.  Two Tchaikovsky waltzs are almost there (Sleeping Beauty and Serenade for Strings).  I even brought a Zoom Q4N for it..

I have been busy working on Duets for my lessons, my teacher tells me they are above my playing, but the challenge will and is doing me good.  It sure is nice to play with him, especially when I don't fubar my part too bad :)

Not only is he challenging me, but he has me read something new every lesson, and I try to read something new each week.  It must be working, since, even though I picked something really easy for this party, this is the 5th take of it...  Played on my wonderful FM Master, named Maddie after my mom recorded om the Zoom Q4N

 

BILLY. please...

To play a wrong note is insignificant;  To play without passion is inexcusable.  - Ludwig van Beethoven 

 My journey began on Aug 3 2017

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BillyG
Brora, North-east Scotland
August 16, 2018 - 1:37 am
Member Since: March 22, 2014
Forum Posts: 3744
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Well !  @JamesRSmithJr, sir -  hats_off

Thank You So Very Much on two counts ! 

Firstly for posting your video and sharing "where you are in your journey" - excellent - that's exactly the kind of stuff I was getting at.  Well done, it's coming on!   I know what you mean about it being "the 5th take" - we've ALL been there.   For my first few tunes I ever played, I was lucky to get 10 seconds into a piece before giving up...  and indeed you can add a zero to the "5th" take for some of my original attempts !   I ( in fact, we, all of us ) are interested in your interaction with your tutor - it's good to know you work well together, I know some folks have not been so fortunate to have established such a rapport. 

Secondly - well - how can I possibly refuse such a plea from the heart !   I'm so pleased that we do have a small but regular audience (and players) for the Strings on Sunday sessions - but honestly I sort of "gave up" on trying to promote it further since the take-up (by players) was so low....    Part of the issue of course is indeed a timezone thing - my 8pm thru 10pm can be anywhere between USA times 1/2/3pm (west to east coast) thru to 3/4/5pm (W->E) I guess - which, especially on a Sunday can overlap "family time", "church time", "lunch time" "dinner time" and indeed as it happens, your lesson-time...  can't win, can I ?    You've made me think about this - perhaps an earlier-in-the-day spot might be better in some ways ?  "The Sunday Brunch SJ Sessions" dunno I'll have a think...    On the other hand, although it's "nice" to have a running-session with folks playing one after the other - there is nothing stopping anyone simply setting their own time-slot, and advertising it both in SJ and on the SJ thread in the forum.   Hahaha - as Mandy mentioned somewhere - sure - I too have played to a non-existent audience - :) it happens on occasion !!!

And congratulations_pngto your youngest daughter on her forthcoming marriage - all the best !!!

[ Bill, somewhat sheepishly, now goes off to set up a SoS SJ slot.... ]

Thank you, James !

EDIT:  I know this is not the SJ thread - but since we're on the subject - this Sunday coming (19th Aug) we now have 4 players - myself, Mandy, Lyd (on harp) and Barry - I would have slotted in after Barry, but that would be around my midnight, well, close to it....

I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - guntohead.JPG

Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)

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BillyG
Brora, North-east Scotland
August 16, 2018 - 3:10 am
Member Since: March 22, 2014
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AndrewH said
Maybe there's that; it also seems like a bunch of regular posters have had an especially busy summer in 2018. (Or maybe it feels that way because I've had a busy summer.) I cut back on forum posting a lot in the spring when I was struggling with shoulder injuries.

At least from my perspective, the forum also lost me a bit in the spring and early summer when it started to feel like all luthier and DIY repair talk all the time. But it's likely that happened in part because some of the regulars who talked about playing dropped out around that time.  

 Thank you @AndrewH - yes you make a good point.   Currently the forum holds around 7000+ "topics" and nearly 90,000 posts.  The forum covers every possible aspect of both playing and set-up, maintenance and repair of instruments.  My luthiery work is limited to say the least, having at most done things like reaming out a peg-box and shaving new pegs to size, bridge fabrication (from an oversize blank) and messing with the SP and bridge position on one of my fiddles "just to see how small variations can make a difference to overall sound production" - but that was just me being driven by curiosity.  I must admit I personally do enjoy the posts about the mechanics, measurements/metrics etc that go into making a "fine violin" - but it is a passing interest - my primary interest on the forum is in playing and helping to share in other folks progress.

I think it takes someone to post some "thought provoking" comments (i.e. as I did in this thread...) just to get folks talking again !   

Thanks for your comment !  :)  

I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - guntohead.JPG

Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)

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damfino
my own little world
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August 16, 2018 - 8:57 am
Member Since: July 23, 2015
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@JamesRSmithJr Hopefully my show will be worth it, haha. Trying to brush up on a couple of my old regular tunes that I haven't played in a while, and hopefully can throw in a couple new ones I've learned this year. Glad that @BillyG is joining in, I wasn't sure our later slots would work for him :D  

And great job on your tune, too, @JamesRSmithJr clap

I get lost a little with the DIY threads, but I enjoy them; I enjoy knowing the inner workings of things and fixing things, but I just can't add to the discussion other than maybe a thinking face emoji, haha. 

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BillyG
Brora, North-east Scotland
August 16, 2018 - 1:08 pm
Member Since: March 22, 2014
Forum Posts: 3744
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@JamesRSmithJr - James my forum fiddle friend - ( and of course all other beginners ) - here's a video of a "practice session" on "Over the Misty Mountains Cold"  - seriously - as music goes - it is nothing special - but I post it to show, and share (a) the benefits of recording yourself, and (b) not being too worried about what folks will think about your playing or practice strategy - yeah.  So, OK it runs to some 16 minutes - but it paid me back MANY times over....  just committing to doing it, then reviewing it, with all the "argggggh" the "bleeped out expletives" and so on - this kinda works for me - I had trouble with it in the key it was, as you can all tell....  This is how we learn and progress - self criticism and awareness - the video doesn't lie...  and it's no shame to share our progress, our problems, and how we understand and overcome them LOL :)  

 

EDIT - the title says "Day 14" - and no - I hadn't been working on that for 14 days - it was just the one thing I worked on, on day 14 of a 100 day challenge...  :)

I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - guntohead.JPG

Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)

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mookje
The Netherlands
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August 16, 2018 - 1:33 pm
Member Since: July 29, 2018
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Love the idea of this project and I love party’s!  I’m only not familiar with tunes of Fourth of July, I’m just a Dutch girl. But if I’m right I have the time to 2019 ? 

 Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about dancing in the rain!!

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BillyG
Brora, North-east Scotland
August 16, 2018 - 1:46 pm
Member Since: March 22, 2014
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Yeah @mookje - I'm from the UK (well, Scotland to be precise) and, no, I don't really know many states-side tunes either - but  - well - as "outsiders" (relative to the USA) we can just take some well known tunes ( relating to USA Independence day, or even the Civil War times ) and "play them as we hear them in our heads" - they may well not be "perfect" or "correct" - but - that's what fiddle is all about - you "make it your own"... 

Glad to have you aboard, and, please feel free to post a video any time... here, or in any other thread - as I've mentioned before- nobody is looking for "perfection" - we are all (well mostly) beginners here - feel free and relaxed about sharing your progress and telling us what you find difficult, or easy, and so on...   

Thanks again ! :)

I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - guntohead.JPG

Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)

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