Music Theory

When you listen to a song, it might make you feel happy or sad. Some songs just sound melancholy or joyous, but do you know why? There's a lot of theory behind the structure of music. You might not realize it when you are just listening to a song, but its underlying fabric comes can be described by music theory. It's always helpful to understand as much as you can about music theory, first because you will understand what other musicians are talking about, and second it will actually help make the melody more understandable and easier to remember. If you are interested in composition, learning music theory is a must!

Check out Ricci Adam's Music Theory easy to use site that offers free online modules on music theory, from how to read music to chord progression analysis.

Is it a fiddle or a violin?

Have you ever wondered what's the difference between a fiddle and a violin? Check out the Hardanger Fiddle at the Corner Violin Shop Blog to learn about the subtle differences between the two unique instruments. While you're there, also take your time to explore the adventures of the inner workings of the Cavallo Violins LLC. These are people who really know what they're talking about!

Violin Outfits

Some great deals on violin outfits from Woodwind Brasswind. This is also where I got my violin outfit, for about $300, it includes the violin, the bow, the case, the resin, the chin rest (attached). I also had a friend of mine try it out, and he was amazed that it sounded so good. Not bad for $300!

Confidence

Having confidence is so important in playing violin. From knowing to where to place your fingers on the strings to how to hold the apply pressure on the bow, confidence determines the quality of sound and accuracy of the notes.

I think of it like learning to downhill ski. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and stop worrying about falling or making mistakes. If you fall, make it a bold and spectacular one. With each wrong turn, there will be learning, and when you fail miserably, your mistakes leading to the fall is more obvious. Only when you know why you fell or played a wrong note, can you conceivably correct that mistake and avoid making it in the future.

I notice that just practicing for a short time each day, it does wonders on my natural confidence for playing. Somehow my hands and fingers learn and remember while I sleep, and the next day, I naturally know where and how to hold the instrument without as much hesitation as the day before. The brain is a wonderful thing!

For lots of wonderful exercises (free!) check out the popular Violin Site for some great practice exercises.

How to tune a violin

It's always been hard for me to tune a violin, being a piano player since I was young, I always took tuning for granted and never gave it a second thought. If you are like me, instead of struggling through it, try these videos from Elizabeth Willis on Expert Village. She goes through the whole process step by step assuming no prior knowledge and shows you some cool tricks. It's a nice way to get started. Make sure you check out the rest of the series at Expert Village to get the whole story. 

How to tune the A string:

Violin Tuning: A String -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Why is violin so hard to play?

Drawing the bow across a string sounds simple at first, but compared to the guitar, piano, why is it so hard to make a beautiful sound? Can perfection be achieved only through years of experience or can it be explained by science? For you physics enthusiasts out there, here's a detailed explanation of why the violin is so hard to play.

Pachelbel's Canon in D major

Here's a good version of the violin part. Great for training the ears while I practice. I tried playing along with it, but I can't do it that fast yet.




Listen to Pachelbel's Canon in D Major at Imeem

New strings

I'm finding that the new strings require less tuning, just a quick check with the fine tuners is all I need to make some harmony. I also feel that the strings vibrate in a really nice way (resonate!) when I play in the right position. It's a great feeling! My next goal is to record myself and upload here, maybe it will be a good way to track my progress.

Nuttin' But Stringz

Addiction to TV is not good, but NBC is not a bad channel to be addicted to. The good, the bad, and the ugly duke it out on America's Got Talent, and I have to say when it came down to the top 5 finalists, we got ourselves a pretty good talent pool. My favorite, Nuttin' But Stringz ended up being #3. They write all of their own music too! What a great role models for violinists and music lovers a like, they are such non-conventional artists with real talent and style. What a breath of fresh air in the state of our media oversaturated with teenage wannabes and sexed up acts with no substance. Check out this video from Stringz, you won't be disappointed.

Thunder by Nuttin' But Stringz

Some more of my favorites from AGT: Neal E. Boyd and Eli Mattson

Online violin learning

So that violin for dummies book hasn't been put to good use yet. Maybe its because I'm more of a visual learning. For all you visual and audio learners out there, check out ProfessorV on Youtube.

Lesson 1: Holding the bow



The prof's real name is Todd Ehle, he also has lots of great info on his webpage about general violin related questions for beginners. I think I'm going to start following some of his videos. My next goal is to play something other than first position!

Comment ça va?

I'm finding that music helps me learn language skills a lot faster and more intuitively than merely memorizing vocab or studying grammer. There's this great song from Coffee Break French that got stuck in my head today:

Dans la ville où j'habite

(In the town where I live)

il y a beaucoup à faire.

(there's a lot to do.)

Il y a beaucoup à voir

(There's a lot to see)

et oui, ça c'est clair.

(and yes, this is clear.)

C'est une ville sympa,

(It's a nice town)
une ville calme et tranquille.

(a calm and quiet town.)

J'aime bien où j'habite,

(I like where I live,)

j'aime bien ma petite ville.

(I like my small town.)

[Lesson 14 2/17/2008]

I was singing in the car today and for the first time, the words and the accent came natural to me. You can lesson to the lesson and the singing here. What I've posted here is only the chorus of the song, there are two other verses featured in the lesson if you are interested to learn. Just click on February in the lessons library. I also recommend subscribing to the iTunes podcast of Coffee Break French for weekly 20min lessons. Since I'm just starting out, I'm working from the first lesson in October 2007 with assumes no prior knowledge, literally "hello" and "thank you." Now I'm on lesson 14, but it doesn't mean I remember everything in between...

Learning to play

Music is like a language, the language of the heart. From each first tender moment to each flamboyant finale, the music speaks to us, no matter the culture, religion or language. For some mysterious reason, certain combinations of notes will elicit tears while others will bring joy. And once you have managed to learn the language of the heart, you are free to invent your own story, weaving complex melodies or elaborate chords. It establishes connections between us and the masters who came before us, hundreds or even thousands of years ago. In some small way, their spirit lives in the music that they have created, with each tone and moment of color.

Today I'm trying to play the D major scale first with an entire bow for each note, then half a bow, then up to 4 notes for each bow. I'm still convinced that I am playing out of tune more than half of the time, but I think my ears are slowly training themselves, and the moment of hesitation before placing my fingers on the strings is becoming shorter and shorter. I realized that I can play the D major scale starting from the D string, all the way to the high D on the A string. There is an F sharp and C sharp built in to the pattern, how convenient! The only trouble is, once I get to the E string, I have to remember to play a G natural directly following the F sharp. Sometimes its not easy to find my way back to that G natural.

For the first time in a while, I actually feel soreness in my left shoulder and arm. I was ambitious enough to try to play a few different versions of Pachelbel's Canon in D Major (see previous entry), although I only got through the first page or so. It's hard to restrain myself to slow down because I want to play the melody, its so tempting to speed up to satisfy my ears. However, more often then not, I'm rewarded not with a beautiful melody, but a wrong note or out of tune one. That reminds me, maybe I should sign up for that violin class... I haven't been motivated to read the Violin for Dummies book, playing is just so much more fun than reading!

By the way, you might be wondering why I haven't written any entries on learning French, well, that's because I haven't been learning too much these days. I'm going to start making my 20min commute count by listening to Starting Out in French from Living Language. More to come soon on the French front. Ciao for now!

New strings, new hopes

Today I got my violin strings replaced by Earl Thibadeau , actually my boyfriend brought it in to be serviced as a surprise for me. He said strings usually last 6 months to a year, and considering I got my violin online (for about $300), which came with rather crappy strings a.k.a. garbage category, he's not surprised that I ended up with a broken string. Whew, now I don't feel as guilty! In fact, he replaced all 4 strings because they are bound to break soon anyway. I'm glad I got the more average grade strings this time, which should last longer. The whole procedure cost $36, $22 for the strings, and $14 for labor. The crappy strings would cost only $14-16. The other option would have been to get the high end strings, which would cost about $60. But with a rather average factory made violin like mine, it probably wouldn't make much difference.

Earl also mentioned that the instrument should feel and sound different (better!) compared to its previous life, and indeed it does! The strokes feel smoother and the sound is much more natural, rather than the sort of screechy sound I had before (or maybe it was just out of tune!). He also replaced an inner peg (inside the body of the violin, right under the bridge) because the original one was not the right size, plus he did it for free! I still don't know how he got the little wooden stick in there, its like the ship in a bottle game which I also don't get. But all in all a great experience so far, Earl seems like a really experienced and responsible guy, I would give him two thumbs up!

And the weird vibration on the G string? All gone. I'm so happy my instrument is like its been reborn. I also feel refreshed and encouraged to play and practice more. Plus, now I can't blame how bad I sound on the violin itself. I'm starting with the Suzuki books, volume one. I actually feel a lot more natural while playing compared to when I first started. I have a lot less tension in my wrists, and I can balance my bow really well now using my thumb as a fullcrum and my pinky as a weight. I'm playing "Lightly Row", "Long long ago" and "May Song." I'm trying my best to use the more of the bow. My goal is to finish the first book of Suzuki by the end of October. My next goal is to try to play Pachelbel's Cannon in D Major. It's a really popularized song, but I still really like it. The only score I found online is the original one in D major, the hard part is that I don't really know how to play flats yet... Does anyone know how to convert the music to say... C major? Here's a simple version on scribd with piano accompaniment.

(Actually there's a better version here, it sounds more original) - added 9/30/3008

I also got info on a local violin teacher, Jenny Grant. I tried googling, and didn't find anything on her. Have you heard of her or took lessons from her before? I'm just interested in a reference. I was resisting taking formal lessons for a while purely due to time constraints. Maybe I'll finally breakdown and take some real lessons, maybe the pressure will force me to practice more and get better faster? Or should I opt for the less stress, more fun route? Then again, I've always done well with more structured learning. Now I'm only practicing during commercial breaks while watching Chuck and Heroes.

Persistence

I thought I had it tough... here's a commercial with a deaf girl learning to play violin:




Can you guess what product this commercial is for?

Broken String

So after a few months of hibernation, I finally got my violin out and tried to tune it. This time, I was adventurous enough to pretend that I have a perfect pitch and tune without an aide, and then see how far I am after I finish by comparing with sounds from the "Violin for Dummies" CD. (By the way, there are also some nice websites for violin tuning. All you have to do is search google for "voilin tuning". One I particularly like is from Violin Online.

I thought I was doing pretty well until :: snap::, my A string broke. Luckily I didn't sustain any injuries to my face or other body parts, but I've now officially broken my first voilin string. I remember my former summar instructor reminding me that it happens to the best of us, (sometimes even while playing in concert!), I was only slightly consoled by that fact. I am frustrated though that it was the A string that broken on me instead of the E string, which is more thin and fragile, therefore more likely to snap.

Now I must look for a good voilin repair shop. I believe it should be a pretty quick and easy fix, and hopefully not too expensive. I also noticed a weird vibration on the G string which I haven't heard before. I'll ask them to check it out while they're at it.

Unwilling to give up, I went ahead and practiced "Twinkle twinkle little star" and "Jingle Bells" using my mere 3 strings. Hopefully I'm not sounding too bad, though its hard for me to tell sometimes if I'm out of tune. For now, I'm trying hard to practice keeping my left fingers down on the finger board while playing the higher notes. The twisted arm position is still pretty strange for me. Meanwhile, trying to hold the bow properly while keeping a relaxed positiong is nothing less than difficult. At least I'm getting back into the mode of practicing. Being a piano player since I was young, I can't help but yearn for some piano time after my violin practice. Too bad its not possible now in my small apartment.

French and violin

I'm starting to learn violin and French. I believe life should be full of learning, no matter your age. Learning is the only thing that keep you fresh and open to new ideas, its the only way you can keep growing.

For great fun French lessons, check out Coffee Break French on iTunes. They also have Coffee Break Spanish. (I'm also trying to brush up on my Spanish...) Check out Radio Lingua's podcasts for fun 20min lessons.

I just bought Violin for Dummies. I'll try to follow it step by step, although I had a few lessons before, I hope this book will help me get some basics down. Can't wait to play some beautiful tunes! O yeah, the book also comes with a CD that includes piano accompaniment music, so you can play with your computer! Now, that's technology!