I went on the internet to look for amateur orchestras. From what I can see, there isn't many and not many near where I live. I didn't realise how dire it was until I wanted to join one. The orchestras I did look at sounded quite good but for one thing, most of these orchestras want you to have a Grade 5+ to even join. How awful is that?? I have to wait until I've done my Grade 5+ before I could even think about joining an orchestra. There are things I want to know and learn from an orchestra now, but I have to wait until Grade 5+ before I can learn and know. Why isn't there any orchestras or playing groups for beginners like me? Beginners who can learn about orchestras at the beginner's stage. I did send emails to a couple of orchestras that sounded interesting, so now I wait for a reply. They didn't specify a Grade, so there could be hope for me.
I got a reply from the orchestras that I emailed. They were nice, polite and encouraging. They said that Grade 5+ was preferred, but not essential. One of the orchestras said that with my Grade 1, I could join second strings. That's not bad. There are people out there who are willing to help you. If I wanted to take up their offers at my level, then I could. This is quite exciting really. When I have more experience and confidence, I'll go and have a look. At least I don't have to wait until I've reached Grade 5+.
I have given long thought to joining an orchestra. I've decided to give myself 6 months to practice and become more confident and proficient in playing the violin. I want to be a bit more accurate in my finger positioning before I join up. I want to be able to read music properly when I play with an orchestra even if they are amateur. That will take me up until June. The weather should be much warmer and the evenings lighter for longer.
So now, I have a new goal. I have given myself 6 months to improve my violin playing and join an orchestra. I will try my hardest to achieve this goal. I may go as far as practising twice a day. I hope it won't be a hardship for me, I love playing the violin.
I've been thinking. If I practice twice a day, I may be able to join the orchestra earlier than June. Waiting six months sounds like an excuse to me. I suppose I'm afraid that I won't be good enough. I'll never know unless I join. So, I'm hoping to start twice a day practice this week. I'm going to try to get up early to practice. By the time my usual practice time comes around, I should be rested enough to be able to practice again. I don't know how this will turn out, but I'll give it a go.
Monday, 20 December 2010
Friday, 10 December 2010
VIOLINGIRL - VIOLIN PRACTICE
Violin practice is going well. I don't sound as good as I would like, but it's going well.
As I've written before, I've started to practice my Grade 1. At my last lesson, Alla has started me on my sight reading. While working on the sight reading, I've come to realise that to sight read, your eyes have to stay on the pages you are reading. At the moment, I have to see where I place my fingers when I play, to make sure I place my fingers in the right position. Now, I have to place my fingers without looking, so that I can concentrate on sight reading. Not looking at my fingers is harder then I thought. But, I'm practising and I know that with practice, I can do it. One day, I might even try it with my eyes closed.
It's funny how a person can look for excuses not to practice when people can't be bothered to practice. I tried to justify today about not practising. I've been good, I've practised every day for the last three weeks and I wanted to give myself a day off. One day couldn't hurt, but I started to feel bad. I've done so well, and so many things I'm practising is coming together. I can't stop now. So, I practised. To be the violinist I want to be, I practised. I didn't do my violin exercises, I'll do them tomorrow. I practised my Grade pieces and some tunes from my Abracadabra book. I practised for an hour. It's better than nothing at all. I'm glad I practised. Quite frankly, I look forward to practising.
I have been reading some blogs and articles about playing the violin. It was good to read that I'm not the only one who has difficulty playing the violin. Some people even had the same problems I have. It was also encouraging. I felt that if they could overcome their difficulties, then so can I. It made me feel good about my playing. I realised that taking a day off from practice wasn't a bad thing. I don't have to feel guilty. I look forward to practice with vigor.
I had a good lesson with Alla today. She is really impressed and happy with my progress. She said she could see things coming together, it's getting smoother. The right decision was made when I decided to learn to position my fingers without looking at what I was doing so that I could conentrate on reading the music. I'm so happy. I do seek her approval. I'm thinking of practising twice a day, one and a half hours at a time, which makes it 3hrs a day of practice. I don't know if I'll do that every day as I have other things to do. But it's only a thought.
When I practised one and half hours a day, it was solely to improve. I enjoyed playing, but the need to improve was greater. The more I practised, the playing improved. The more the playing improved, the more I wanted to practice.
As I've written before, I've started to practice my Grade 1. At my last lesson, Alla has started me on my sight reading. While working on the sight reading, I've come to realise that to sight read, your eyes have to stay on the pages you are reading. At the moment, I have to see where I place my fingers when I play, to make sure I place my fingers in the right position. Now, I have to place my fingers without looking, so that I can concentrate on sight reading. Not looking at my fingers is harder then I thought. But, I'm practising and I know that with practice, I can do it. One day, I might even try it with my eyes closed.
It's funny how a person can look for excuses not to practice when people can't be bothered to practice. I tried to justify today about not practising. I've been good, I've practised every day for the last three weeks and I wanted to give myself a day off. One day couldn't hurt, but I started to feel bad. I've done so well, and so many things I'm practising is coming together. I can't stop now. So, I practised. To be the violinist I want to be, I practised. I didn't do my violin exercises, I'll do them tomorrow. I practised my Grade pieces and some tunes from my Abracadabra book. I practised for an hour. It's better than nothing at all. I'm glad I practised. Quite frankly, I look forward to practising.
I have been reading some blogs and articles about playing the violin. It was good to read that I'm not the only one who has difficulty playing the violin. Some people even had the same problems I have. It was also encouraging. I felt that if they could overcome their difficulties, then so can I. It made me feel good about my playing. I realised that taking a day off from practice wasn't a bad thing. I don't have to feel guilty. I look forward to practice with vigor.
I had a good lesson with Alla today. She is really impressed and happy with my progress. She said she could see things coming together, it's getting smoother. The right decision was made when I decided to learn to position my fingers without looking at what I was doing so that I could conentrate on reading the music. I'm so happy. I do seek her approval. I'm thinking of practising twice a day, one and a half hours at a time, which makes it 3hrs a day of practice. I don't know if I'll do that every day as I have other things to do. But it's only a thought.
When I practised one and half hours a day, it was solely to improve. I enjoyed playing, but the need to improve was greater. The more I practised, the playing improved. The more the playing improved, the more I wanted to practice.
Saturday, 4 December 2010
RAMBLINGS OF A MAD VIOLINIST
After writing down my thoughts about my violin playing the other day, I did my practice as usual. I had to concentrate a bit harder, but I can see what my problem was with my bowing. It's all in the wrist action. The way you move your wrist will then enable you to keep your bow on the strings. Keeping strings on the bow should give you less squeaks. The movement of the wrists is difficult at the moment, but with practice it will get better. After trying it today, I was a lot happier. My wrists started to ache a bit and it made me realise that it was working, may be I am doing it right. I am now looking forward to my next practice session, so I can practice that movement some more. With practice, I can get it the way it should be.
Another day, another practice and it wasn't good. One thing after another goes wrong. Firstly, my violin is out of tune. I've tried tuning it, but I'm not good at tuning. I may have to wait for my next lesson and have Alla tune it for me. I've been practising my wrist movement and I feel like I've gone back to the beginning when I first started learning to play. I am so depressed, I'll never get this right. I didn't finish my practice, my violin doesn't sound right and my wrist movement needs work. I have to keep working on it because I want to play properly with all my bad habits ironed out.
The more I learn about the violin and how to play,the more respect I have for people who play the violin. It really isn't easy.
Is it natural to have doubts on your ability to play the violin? Am I practising too much and should I take a break?
I had a violin lesson and my teacher, Alla, made me feel better. The problem with me, is that I am harder on myself then my teacher is with me. With practice, I'm improving and I have now started sight reading. I'm happy with that because sight reading is a little difficult for me. Hopefully, the sight reading exercises will help me improve. Alla said I need to have confidence in the way I play. I need to be less afraid of my violin and more in control.
This week, Alla has started to teach me how to tune my violin. She is going to get me to tune my violin at the beginning of every lesson. She use to do it before and my violin only got tuned once a week. I'm happy about that as I need to know how to tune a violin. When my violin went out of tune, Alla wasn't around and I didn't know what to do. Now, I do.
Every week, I start to understand more and more about the violin. The more difficult it gets, the more understanding I need. With Alla's help, I understand.
Another day, another practice and it wasn't good. One thing after another goes wrong. Firstly, my violin is out of tune. I've tried tuning it, but I'm not good at tuning. I may have to wait for my next lesson and have Alla tune it for me. I've been practising my wrist movement and I feel like I've gone back to the beginning when I first started learning to play. I am so depressed, I'll never get this right. I didn't finish my practice, my violin doesn't sound right and my wrist movement needs work. I have to keep working on it because I want to play properly with all my bad habits ironed out.
The more I learn about the violin and how to play,the more respect I have for people who play the violin. It really isn't easy.
Is it natural to have doubts on your ability to play the violin? Am I practising too much and should I take a break?
I had a violin lesson and my teacher, Alla, made me feel better. The problem with me, is that I am harder on myself then my teacher is with me. With practice, I'm improving and I have now started sight reading. I'm happy with that because sight reading is a little difficult for me. Hopefully, the sight reading exercises will help me improve. Alla said I need to have confidence in the way I play. I need to be less afraid of my violin and more in control.
This week, Alla has started to teach me how to tune my violin. She is going to get me to tune my violin at the beginning of every lesson. She use to do it before and my violin only got tuned once a week. I'm happy about that as I need to know how to tune a violin. When my violin went out of tune, Alla wasn't around and I didn't know what to do. Now, I do.
Every week, I start to understand more and more about the violin. The more difficult it gets, the more understanding I need. With Alla's help, I understand.
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