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.