Gettin Old, yep!

It's my birthday eve tonight, yep tomorrow I'll officially be 29. Should I pluck out those two gray hairs that are up on top? A lot of people still mistake me for about 24, hopefully that's a good thing. I actually like the two gray hairs, they add character. I told my parents that I wasn't going to celebrate my birthday this year but they are rebellious parents. Dad told me that it wouldn't matter if I celebrated or not, that he still would celebrate. There are good things about birthdays like splurging and eating pizza for supper tonight, a yummy but bad for me treat away from the raw foods. And dad told me he would buy me a new violin for my birthday which is pretty special. I wasn't planning on upgrading my violin until I could prove to myself that I could really play. I don't really have any plans for the day, just hours of teaching, practice, and perhaps a visit in between with good friends. That's really the best part, the friends and the sweet words exchanged.

This is IT!

OK, so here goes...My latest very FUN endeavor, which has been taking between 1 and 3 hours of my time each day, I obsess over it day and night, I can hardly wait to be proficient at it, I hired a teacher to help me with it, it has inspired me in other areas of my life, iiiisss....maybe I won't tell after all,.... kiddin! It's my dearly beloved violin that I've had forever but just never got around to learning. I don't know how old I was when I first decided that I wanted to learn violin but I'm guessing I was about 5. At the time we were poor and there was no chance of getting lessons. Dad picked up a violin at an auction for about $25 back in the 80's and we ended up hanging it on the wall as a decoration for 10 years! When I was a teen I asked Mom if I could have it and she said yes. So I took it down, repaired it's cracks, refinished it, and restrung it. I think I was 16 or 17 when I first hired a teacher who said she would come out to our home for the lessons, at the time I was well on my journey in piano lessons and thinking about teaching. I found the teacher to be frustrating and not the most helpful and after about 4 lessons I learned that she didn't even play the violin herself!!! I was SHOCKED! I cancelled my lessons and put away my violin(I thought forever, yes, I was just being dramatic). Really though, I had lost the spark that I needed at that time to continue learning. Over the past 12 years(I know, I'm getting old) I've gotten the violin out and tried to screech out a song only to put it away very quickly, horrified at the awful sound. So... now I'm as surprised as anyone that my interest is reawakened at this time. While attending the Feast of Tabernacles I met another older beginning violin player who inspired me to try again. When I got home I opened my violin case and began playing and now I can't put it down. After 10 days of consistent practice I decided I'd better get a teacher before I developed some bad habits that were hard to fix. Being a music teacher myself, I understand how important it is to get that feedback from someone experienced. I had my 3rd lesson this morning and I've completed one and a half levels of "All For Strings" method. I'm eager to get down the art of vibrato and excited about learning some classical pieces. Next week I'm even hoping to take my violin to the Alzheimer's nursing home and play for the elderly, hopefully they'll forget how badly I play and welcome me back the following week. :D I'm already setting my sights BIG, maybe in ten years I'll be teaching violin lessons myself, perhaps when I'm 50 I can give a solo recital at the local theater. Ha, Ok so now you know and you can keep your eyes peeled for the video that hopefully I will soon post on youtube. I want to keep a record of my progress that way I can look back and be appalled at how bad I was and encouraged by my progress. Oh, and I forgot to mention how my violin practice has been inspiring me in another area. Since you can only practice so much before you get too tired from building all these new muscles for holding the violin, when I'm finished with my 3 hours of practice I just sit down at the piano and give it a few more hours of practice. It may sound crazy to you non musicians for me to practice music up to 5 hours a day, and to those of you who are musicians, well you probably wonder why stop at only 5 hours, right? I kind of go through these phases with my piano, sometimes I go for months without practicing(feel guilty for it too) but sometimes I just can't find a good enough reason to get into it. So any little bit counts, an hour or two and some goals to shoot for at the piano is a big thing for me right now. I have to say, I feel like a kid again!

Should I tell?

I've been debating over the past three weeks whether or not to share with my friends here my latest endeavor. Any time you start something new there is a bit of risk involved, will I follow through, will I succeed? Or will I give up when things get too busy or perhaps I'll be so bad at it that I won't want anyone to know that I ever tried? OK so the first two weeks passed by so quick and I've been having so much fun that now I'm investing even more time and money into it. Curious? Maybe I won't tell just yet. ;) I'll give a hint: it requires, daily concentration, motivation, dedication, and interest.