Violin Journal

This is a good a place as any to write my parent Suzuki notes. We had two lessons today. One was the private lesson and the other is the group lesson which Grace just took Noah to. We just parted screaming at each other because my phone was in my other backpack and I didn't hear it. Why did I use two back packs today? Because I picked up groceries and her special Coffee. But it doesn't matter because in the end, she still had to take him, which means I had to wait for her to get home before she could take him in the car.

I have the song Whiskey in Jar stuck in my head.
"They never can be easy." That much is true I guess. If you believe in "the secret" brought this upon myself by singing those damn lyrics all day.

So what are we to focus on today. Noah needs to focus on bow placement, as in contact point.

What else?

Well in past lessons it was the problem of holding the violin with the finger hand. A problem I had.  But that wasn't such a big deal this time around. What was it? I guess that's why you bring the damn notebook to the lesson. Except I lost it.

Well we are working on "Oh Come Little Children" and I have to make sure he starts with an up bow, and do the up bow drill which is just part of the "Oh come Little children" song.

Oh yeah the fingers are slipping so sometimes the notes are out of tune. Of course if I mention this to Noah then 15 minutes of practice (that's all I expect, let's be realistic) will become 3 hours of arguing. We'll see.


Well this is Kung Fu Dad so what does this have to do with Kung Fu.

Well it doesn't matter how many songs you know. You still have to have the core basics down. The bow has to go on the string the right way to make a nice sound come out. The fingers have the hit where you want them to hit to make the note the note that you want.


Likewise, it doesn't matter how many forms or techniques you know. If you can't even get into a good stance (not a low stance but a good one.) or if you can't even make the motion of the punch whatever technique it is then your form is crap. Just going through the motions is pointless. And going through it sort of okay is equivalent to scratching out something fast nasty out of tune and tempo all over the place perhaps even rushing and we haven't gotten to soul and feeling yet.

Noah spent a lot of time at the lesson trying to balance one leg. Don't Blame ME! I didn't tell him to do that.
Anyway, that's the equivalent of fancy moves. A fancy move done badly is crap. But if you can play really well and dance on one leg. Now  then that's pretty cool. So fancy moves are good, if they are good. Hmmm sounds redundant.

I have a couple fancy moves which I am pretty crap at. But I still do them anyway, because they are in the form. As long as I don't hurt myself.