A Tune A Day

I have seen this book in my search for good violin books but I had never bought it because I thought it just had a tune for every day of the year. Right? A Tune A DAY! I only finally got it because it turned up on my paperbackswap list. It is now the book I have decided to use and I wish I had bought it before this.
I have to say that I don't think I could teach myself with this book if I hadn't already had a good bit of knowledge on what fingerings to use for the keys it uses because it doesn't focus on finger placement very much but it does focus on technique a lot and since my violin teacher never taught me any technique, it is a wonderful book for me.
I have stopped going to my violin teacher. I am sad because I miss seeing her but I am not unhappy that I don't spend all that money every month for someone who really wasn't actually "teaching" me.
Anyway, this book is great. I have learned what so many things mean that I didn't know before. It starts with "piano" and "forte" and moved you through mezzo piano, mezzo forte, pianissimo, crescendo and diminuendo. I had no idea what these meant or what the signs for crescendo and diminuendo were. It goes through ties, slurs (these I knew) and now I am trying to do spiccato. It gives you several good example tunes for each lesson it teaches you.
The next lesson has hooked bowing, eighth note rests, pause signs, and ritenuto (no idea) and still a few more lessons after that. Each lesson has a little quiz after it so you can tell if you missed something and need to go back.
In the back of the book are some extra tunes for you to play plus a fold out fingering chart (I really don't understand the chart but it is nice) and the book comes with a CD which is great for those of us, like me, who need to hear and tune we don't know before we play it.
Anyway, I am in love with the book. I have only had it a few weeks and feel like I have learned more from it than I have in the last year of lessons! I am definitely getting the next Tune a Day book.

How many instruments can you learn to play at once?

The answer is simply, as many as you have time for. I want to play my violin, viola, tin whistle, keyboard and mandolin....and I do hope to learn them all eventually....but there just isn't enough time. Learning an instrument takes an incredible lot of time. Right now I think it is absolutely essential that I at least get an hour a day practice on my violin...but I do better when I get two hours a day in two different sessions. Of course that just makes sense. If I get an hour in the morning and an hour after work, I have essentially doubled what I can learn. I don't always get that much practice in though. There are days when I come home from work and I am just plain too tired or my back hurts too much but I do try to put in as much time into practice as I can. If I am not too too tired or I have enough time in I will get out the viola and do a little practice on that and maybe as I am really starting to drag I might do a little piano on my keyboard.
What this means is that progress on the viola and keyboard are very very slow. When I had two weeks off at Christmas some progress was made on the viola and keyboard but after that I couldn't find time for them for a week. I have to get back in the swing of things again.
There are times though that I think, "Other people don't have to come home and practice, they get to just sit and rest after their hard days work....."

But then I never was meant to be like other people....

A Violin Maker's Perspective

Sizzle & Depth from Chris Morgan on Vimeo.