Anna Morris

This week I have just been practicing my two pieces of music: "Hedwig's Theme" and "A Thousand Years". I've practiced a little more then last week, but I could definitely use more practice. I still haven't figured out how to do a vibrato which is kind of frustrating, but I'm hoping I can eventually figure it out. Learning how to play the violin is a lot harder then I originally thought it was going to be. There is a lot going on at once when you're playing the violin. You have to focus on bowing, reading the music, getting your fingers in the correct positions, and eventually doing a vibrato. To help ease this I try to learn the music before actually bowing it, which is what I did this week. When I'm learning the music I just pluck instead of using the bow. Doing this allows me to just focus on getting the notes down, so when I move on to bowing I can focus more on that. The other thing I have learned this week is that slow songs are a lot h...

With our long weekend last week you would think I would get a lot done, but that was not the case. I'm embarrassed to say I have procrastinated practicing my violin. I have practiced about an hour and a half since my last post. That may sound like a decent amount of time for practicing an instrument, but it really is not. Learning an instrument takes practice every day to sound better, and I did not do that. The vibrato is also not coming along very well. It is a lot harder then I expected it to be. This week I have committed to practicing a lot more. At least 15 minutes a day, at the least. On the bright side of this week I have figured out the basic notes for two of the songs I will be learning. I do not know if I will be able to get a third song done, but I can always learn it later. I'm still working on transferring my bow from one string to other, so my songs don't sound so slow. I am also trying to have fun with the violin, because when you have fun with music that i...

This week I have only accomplished half of my goal. I had planned to have a vibrato down my the end of this week, but learning a vibrato was a lot harder then I thought it was going to be. When using a vibrato your wrist and fingers have to master a certain motion, but your fingers have to stay in the same place. I sort of have the motion, but I struggle to move fast enough to where it sounds like a vibrato. I will probably go to YouTube and see if there are more techniques that could make the motion little easier. The other part of my goal was to be able to play some simple music. In the video is one of the songs I played. It's a little rough, but it is getting better. My dad told me that I am a little more bearable to listen to compared to a couple weeks ago, so I guess that's progress. I still struggle to slide my bow from one string to the next, and always having my fingers in right places, but it's improving. I have also started Hedwig's theme, which is one the so...