Wednesday, January 4

My old violin

A while back, my little sister got this idea that she wanted to learn how to play the violin. So when we went to our homeschool group's used curriculum (and other stuff) sale and there was a violin for fifty bucks, Mom and Dad decided to get it for her. Of course, it was pretty junky and had a barely passable tone. But she and I were very happy with it. I was legitimately scared to play it, it seemed so fragile at the time. But when we finally got to our lessons over the summer, my teacher told me I needed to apply more pressure. So, anxiously, I did. And it made a sound! I was ecstatic! She taught me the notes each string played, everything a beginner should know. Then the summer ended and she went back to college. I really haven't played the violin much since then. It's annoying because I have to tune it nearly every time we take it out, and none of the tuning knobs will stay once we've turned them. They always whip right back around and make the string even more out of tune than it was originally. (face palm) So after about twenty minutes of wrestling with the tuning knobs, I have a violin that is in tune- more or less. One time I was playing, and all of a sudden, the bridge just shot off the violin and smacked against the wall. I didn't play for a while after that. When I finally ventured back on, of course, it was out of tune. It's a vicious cycle. So I think I'll be stuck playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" forever. Maybe I'll expand my repertoire to include "Baa Baa Black Sheep" soon! :)

3 comments:

  1. Hee hee you said face palm! :D I like saying that! Hey at least your not stuck on "Hang down your head Tom Dooly."(That was the only thing my sister knew how to play on the guitar.)

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  2. I still can have a fear of tuning my strings for fear of popping them! One thing that does help them from slipping out of tune so much is to wet the end of a Q-tip (it doesn't have to be soaked ya see) and use it to dampen the wood around the pegs at the scroll end. You don't have to wet the whole scroll piece, just where the wood and peg meet. It might take some time or may not seem to work, but it usually does after it dries. Just a large little tid bit for you...

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  3. I'll be sure to try that next time--thanks!!
    Large tid bits are OK!!

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