My New Trick

Some of you may remember that I made a birthday resolution a year ago to learn to play the violin.  In case you missed it, here is my Facebook status from March 19, 2010...

I've given myself a 5 year extension on my goals of learning to ride a motorcycle/speak Latin by 30 and decided to take up the violin as a consolation prize.  It's less dangerous/cheaper than a motorcycle and I already speak "music."  I don't expect to ever be playing the Philharmonic but my mother, a drummer since last year, is proof it's never too late to try something you've always wanted to do.

Well, in true "me" style, I waited till the last minute to do anything about it.  Here is my Facebook status from March 3, 2011...

I rented a violin today.  I'm not really sure what I'm doing but I did manage to torture Josh and Sofie with several stirring renditions of the G major scale.  Sofie actually quoted one of her Dr. Seuss books and said, "...very very very awful on her violin."  She's smart, a little too smart.

So, even though I've only been working on it for a couple weeks, I now present to you "Happy Birthday to Me."  It took about a bazillion takes to get this video and the perfectionist in me says that even this one isn't that great but I decided to cut myself some slack just this once because it's my birthday.



I was trying really hard to keep a straight face but wowza, check out that nostril flaring action! Yikes. Now, just for fun, here is one of the "outtakes." Don't worry, it's not the one where I use bad words. Enjoy!



I deeply apologize to any actual violin players out there. I don't assume for a second that I will ever be playing Carnegie Hall (at least not on the violin) and I know my technique is probably making you cringe. I'll work on it and if it never gets any better, I'll just tell people I'm a fiddle player.