Artist Works

So I decided since I can't afford my violin lessons this month and she really isn't worth what I am paying her anyway, that I would look for an alternative and I came upon artistworks.com  It sounded pretty good. For $35 a month you get: access to hundreds of video lessons, you get to send in a video of your playing (any time you want!) and your instructor will reply with suggestions and advice, you get access to a forum, chat and blog etc. etc. and so I did it.

It was disappointing. I signed up for Darol Angers fiddle lesson which go from beginning to advanced.

I now feel sorry for the people who are real beginners because there is no way you can learn to play the violin from this man. My violin teacher is not the worst, this man is. The videos are horrid. You sit there just hoping Darol will actually come up with his next word before the video ends. It is OBVIOUS that he put no thought into any of these videos. He is just making it up as he goes along  and sometimes his videos don't even look like he can do the exercises himself (and the exercises, when there are some are really not all that helpful). The way he talks on the videos is just really terrible. I can't even explain it but he just doesn't teach you anything. He apparently does not know what a beginner is and does not know that someone learning needs lessons that progress in an orderly fashions. It looks  like he just picked a song and said, "We'll do this one today" whether you are ready for it or not.  I actually watched him do a horrible interview with Casey Driessen (I have no idea who this actually is, a good bluegrass player apparently---oh yeah, to Darol apparently bluegrass is the only fiddle playing too as he doesn't get into any other fiddle playing in his lessons). It was just plain hard to watch. I felt bad for this Casey. It wasn't really an interview because Darol never asked any questions. It was stupid, really. They played a tune then Darol told about what Casey was doing (he did not have all the information and Casey filled him in where needed) and that was it.
There are 23 videos before he even gets to the key of G, then he has one song for the key of G and then move on to the key of D and then one song, and the key of A and then one song but in those 23 videos there are several songs in these keys. It is like someone mentioned to him that people couldn't do the songs without having a basis in what the keys were so then he made some videos on each key.

Anyway, other than the video lessons, students make videos of themselves playing and then we get to see their video and Darol's response. He ALWAYS tells them they are doing great (even when they are so bad that I have to shut off the video) and he almost always tells them to do long bow exercises to get better...yeah. Plus a lot of the video exchanges are not matched up with the right video lesson.

The study materials sometimes don't match (according to key) with what Darol is playing. The forum is a joke. Very, very few entries and the administrators don't even answer.  The chat...I have never seen anyone on it and I have tried several times.

There is something  called Shout Outs which is like a chat but right on the board. It hasn't changed for two days now so that gives you an idea of how many people use it.

It is 9:30 at night and right now only 3 students are online. Not exactly a popular place.

So for my $35 what am I getting...well, I printed up some of the music in case I need it later...that's about it.

However, there are sample videos to every teacher and the classical violin player looks really good, speaks well and seems like he has a plan to his teachings although it looks too hard for a beginner but the mandolin player looks even better on his sample video and I actually learned  a lot from it so maybe when I get to playing my mandolin he will be a good teacher.

In other words, it might not be all bad, just don't go there trying to learn to play from the fiddle player Darol Anger.  :(

My Music Room

Phil was nice enough to clean up the spare room some. It mostly holds...junk and spare food. Phil cleaned up enough space so my new keyboard could go in there and I could use the old computer chair in there to sit in. So now all my instruments are in there and I enjoy practicing so much more. It is so nice to have a place where I don't get interrupted and nothing bothers me. As you can see my big fish tank is in there too. I also cleaned it up so that it is something nice to look at again. It only has two fish in it. I definitely need to get more.

Anyway, my violin, viola, the keyboard and my mandolin are in there now and I'll be moving the tin whistles in here as well. I have a heater and a fan and a little trash can. Everything I could ever need.

Violin Playing Videos

I have now almost reached a year of taking violin lessons. Phil took a few videos while I was practicing today from his phone and I got them uploaded tonight. Merry Christmas everyone. I hope to have better videos next year.

This first one is Rosin, the Beau (Ireland) or Acres of Clams (US)

This one is Ashokan Farewell.

Master Classes

I really think if you are serious about playing an instrument youtube should be your best friend. Why learn from just one teacher when you can learn from many? Some of them are the best who have ever played! Why would you not want to do that. I met a girl the other day. She is a student of my teacher and when I mentioned to her that I thought youtube was a great resource she said that her parents were her resource because they played the piano.....okay.....but she is trying to play the violin...
You see my problem here. Too many people like the idea of playing an instrument but don't want to put in the time and work it takes to play one well. I say, if you are really passionate about the instrument you are playing, you are going to want to learn any way you can.
This brings me back to youtube and the master classes. No, they aren't anywhere near on my level which means I don't learn specific skills from them but that isn't the point. I watch them because I totally enjoy them and because someday I hope to understand everything.
One of my favorites is Maxim Vengerov. I love how he teaches. He makes you visualize the song. I can't play a piece even now if I don't know the tune so I can sing along in my head as I am playing. I know immediately if I am playing badly, if it doesn't match the song in my head. He is doing the same thing only on a more advance level. He not only brings in your visualizing the sound but makes you visualize scenes that you can relate to (the ballroom dancer etc. ).
I can't wait until I am to the point where such subtle differences in tone make such a difference in my playing. I can't wait until I can play well enough to not worry about just trying to get a good sound from the violin.
Someday..
Check out those Master Classes on youtube, it is not like most of us will ever have the chance to meet one of these teachers.

Finally Moved On to Flats!

My teacher finally moved us on to the key of F today or one flat. It is about time! I didn't have my finger pattern chart with me though and she just has an awful time showing me something new. She can't just say that now the A string will have the same pattern as the E string in the Key of C. She has to do it this odd way and you get all confused. The same with the G string. She could have just said it is exactly like the D string pattern in the Key of C but she didn't. She had no plan on what I should play (because we always use me books) but I went through all my books today and found all the pieces with one flat plus any exercises. There really aren't many. However, I have an older book that is mostly flats. I wonder if modern music has changed so that it is mostly sharps or if it was always that way.

Don't Say I'm Good If I'm Not

I guess I can write what I want since no one has joined. I am surprised that all those members of my other blog Simply Self Sufficiency who said they were so interested in how I was doing with my playing violin, didn't want to see what I would have  to say on this new blog. They weren't as interested as they pretended to be apparently or they just don't have time for it. Doesn't matter, same thing.
Anyway, there was a post on facebook where a violin teacher who's videos I watched for a while but found a bit too...well too useless, posted a very young girl playing a Christmas carol on the violin. She was playing three different positions which was pretty impressive for a girl who was so young (I can't remember how old--6 or 8 maybe)...however, the bowing was so bad you could barely tell the tune she was playing. But, of course, there were all these replies about how wonderful she was. I really hate it when people do that....make someone think what they are doing is good, when it isn't. Yes, it was impressive that she could do fingerings in those positions but there was no way we could tell if she even did those right because her bowing was so terrible.
It made me think he must be a fairly bad teacher because even though my teacher isn't great, she does not like me to move on until I have become fairly good at whatever we have been working on.
I understand what encouragement is. Really I do but I think you have to encourage people when they do well and not just say they did well if they didn't.
I think this is part of what is wrong with kids today. Everyone tells them they are good even if they have put only a minimum of effort into what they are doing, everyone is so afraid to hurt a child's feelings, then when they grow into adults, they don't know how to deal with disappointment.
We were disappointed a lot when we were kids. I feel like I learned from that. If I want something I really try hard at it. My violin teacher says I practice more than any student she has ever had and here I was feeling like a couple hours practice a day wasn't great but it was all I could fit in.
She often tells me I am doing well. She often encourages me but they are always during times when even I know I have played well. She does not tell me I am "prefect" because we both know I am not.
I wouldn't want her to tell me I am good if I wasn't.
If you are always told you are good...where is the incentive to work harder to be better?

A Major

The first thing I learned from Ms. Linda was what sharps and flats were. My book started with 3 sharps (#) and I had learned a few song with three sharps from the first Suzuki book but I just never knew what three sharps meant. The notes I learned on the G string were A, B, C#, and D.  I don't have any tapes on my violin. To learn the notes, my teacher first just had me keep moving my finger until I had the note right and I tried to remember where that spot was on my violin. That didn't work so well but at home I figured out that I could set my tuner on my stand and it would tell me when I got a note right and I could adjust my fingers myself when they were wrong. The notes on the D string are E, F#, G and A. On the A string they are B, C#, D and E and the E string they are F#, G#, A and B. What this looks like when you set your fingers down on the strings is that one the G and D string there is a space between your first and second fingers and another space between your second and third fingers but when you get to the A and E string there is only the space between the first and second fingers because the second and third fingers and close together and touching.
I practiced songs with three sharps for months and they never sounded nearly as nice as I wanted them to. Ms. Linda kept telling me that I wasn't supposed to sound good yet but I felt something had to be wrong with the way I was doing it. I tried to fix it by "pimping" up my cheap violin some but I'll keep that for the next post.

My New Teacher

So, of course, I called her. She explained that she had been playing violin...forever...and that she charged just $20 for a half hour lesson. She also was located in the town next to our which was great for me because I don't drive in the city and the town she lives in is very small.
I'll call her by her first name here Ms. Linda. Her and I hit it off right off. She is an older lady...actually much older at 74 than I ever would have guessed from looking at her. She also is quite short whereas I am 5 ft. 9 in. We started with both of us standing but have adjusted because of my height and an injury she has so that now we both sit during practice.
I must say that though I like her quite a lot at first I was not impressed with her teaching. She tends to skip around too much and assume I know things that I don't. She also can't seem to tell me what exactly I am doing wrong but can tell me when I haven't hit a note right. She had no plan on how to teach me. I brought her all sorts of books and she just sort of picked out of them. Finally I think she could tell that not only was this not working for me but I was thinking of quitting but I really didn't want to quit. We decided to follow one book. I picked the one that came with my violin because it started with the key of A and then D, G etc. (in other words, three sharps, two sharps and 1 sharp). That worked better except that all the songs in the book are classical. I am just not much of a fan of classical music. I want to be able to play songs I know and I love Irish music. Finally I took it into my own hands and would study the songs she asked me to during the week but then I would also do a song or two that I wanted to do and slowly it just turned into me always picking what to do and her just helping me out with any problems I had. I'm kind of teaching myself but I still couldn't do it without her because there would be no one there to correct my mistakes or tell me what different things mean. Eventually maybe I will find a different teacher who can take me to a higher level  of learning but for now it works for us.

The Beginning

It began many, many (way too many) years ago when I was in 4th grade. Our school offered lessons for many different instruments and I didn't think that we could afford one but we had a wonderful principal who found me on the playground and asked me if I was going to play an instrument and when I told him that we couldn't afford it he asked me what I wanted to play (this was a man who paid for our school pictures every year and I am sure would have got me whatever instrument I wanted). I told him I wanted to play the violin and he said that was great because the school had their own violins for us to use and we didn't even have to pay for them. Late that day he came and fitted me for the right size violin himself. He also went and found my brother and got him to take the trumpet lessons (which the school also had plenty of ). I have never met anyone so caring about the children in his care.
Anyway, so I took violin lessons. Unfortunately I wasn't very good at it. Well, maybe that is a bit too harsh. The other kids had had some kind of instrument backgrounds and they picked up on music reading really quickly but I never did. I didn't know how you knew which notes were which fingers on the strings. I did learn Allegro which was our first song but only because we went through it together line for line and I memorized it. The other kids moved on to Long, Long Ago while I still practiced Allegro and got so I could play it perfectly. My teacher didn't even notice that I couldn't play anything else until it was almost time for our performance at the end of the year. When she did another teacher was brought in and I had some one on one tutoring with a man but we never quite got all the way through Long, Long Ago. I was the only student who only learned one song.
You might think that would have been a deterrent but it never really was. I always wanted to have another violin and learn to play. But violins are expensive...at least they used to be but now with the wonders of Internet you can find anything cheap and I found the cheap $35 violins on eBay and bought one finally at age 44.

I was so excited! It actually came in on my birthday that year. But cheap is what it was and during my first tuning session I didn't just break a string I broke a fine tuner. Phil took it to a music shop and got it fixed (for $35 I might add). I bought a tuner and very carefully tuned it and I began to play.
I bought LOTS of books too. All sorts of "Teach Yourself" books. For a year I played all sorts of things...mostly badly and with the wrong fingerings.
It must be that the violin was too cheap so the next year I bough another cheap but not quite so cheap violin, a Cecillo 300. It was a vast improvement over the $35 violin and my playing improved slightly but I still didn't really know what I was doing.
And then one day I saw it "Violin Lessons" in an ad in the paper.....