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.
