Recently my kid has been playing a song as part of his piano practice. It's beautiful. I remember singing this song in choir as a kid. Anyway, I love the arrangement and I'm super proud of my kid. Pardon the mistakes... he knew I was listening, but didn't know I was recording. Here he is playing Shenandoah:
The other night I was driving and heard a version of the song on the radio that I've not heard before. It's also beautiful. I guess I like this song..
I thought it was a good song. That said, I still contend that they've gone down hill since the Bends, so what do I know? I fucking love that album though, The Bends. I think it's phenomenal.
God damn you if you don't go. The closest they get to me is Indianapolis, but the parents are in town that week and I have an uncle at Duke getting a heart transplant so no Tengger Cavalry for me. Fun story, I've been playing them in the car; the new guy had to take a ride with me to a remote site. He told the boss that I listen to some "weird, fucked up growling strange music." I take that as a compliment.
The uncle is 9 years and 7 months older than I am; I'm a spitting fucking mirror image of the guy as well. Nerd, sedentary, bald, we both have the same face and look exactly like my grandfather who dropped dead of a massive coronary three days before his 65th. This has me a bit on edge for my own well being and is kicking my ass to fix some of the poor choices I've made lately. And yea, sucks. Once they get a donor organ the surgery is fairly standard any more. 3-5 days in a hospital bed after, then therapy to get moving again and out the door to home care in as little as a week. Medicine is doing amazing things that are not making the news, recovery is one of the big changes just over the last few years. Even the anti rejection stuff is only 2-3 pills a day and the side effects are minimal for most people. Still, watching him go through this reminds me that I hate hospitals and prefer to stay out of them.
I say this to people all the time. The best time to start the violin is like, 4 years old. the second best time is now.
Spoons! I'm interested in starting fiddle when I finish school in approximately a month. Any tips?
Sure!! tip number one: the first little while is going to suck, as Ira Glass talks about here: In my opinion the first year of learning a string instrument is the hardest year of playing a string instrument. Nothing is automatic, everything feels awkward, things feel unachievable. Then one day your bow hold doesn't suck, or your intonation is better. things just quietly improve. tip number two: Practice in front of a mirror. It's the best way to see what you're doing right and wrong. This sounds a little "wax on, wax off," but try to think of it as looking at someone else and correcting the behaviour of the person in the mirror. It becomes much less personal like that, and much less self critical. tip three: get a decent teacher. it's money in the bank. tip four: as I said to steve, CONSISTENCY OF PRACTICE TRUMPS LENGTH OF PRACTICE EVERY TIME. Practice a little bit every day, even if it's just to feel the violin and bow in your hands, and play a scale. five minutes. one thing that helps this is leaving your violin in an accessible place, even leaving it out of the case, so there is no barrier to picking it up to noodle around. Noodle around in commercial breaks, while the microwave is running, while your conversation partner is in the bathroom, in stolen moments where you would just be waiting for things to happen. enjoy, I love playing music, and I love playing string instruments.
I played pretty much all of the members of the clarinet family for a few years but that was a while ago now. I feel like string instruments are easier to bring around and jam with. I'll keep you posted on my adventure!
If I may recommend something to you, as an occasional music teacher. "Every Day you forget the cello, the cello forgets you for two" - Pau "Pablo" Casals I don't know the age of your kid, but the biggest key for forward progression at any age (from 5-75) is consistency of practice, not length of time. I'd rather see my students do 15 minutes of practice every day than see them do 45 minutes every three days. Also, most of the time, you sit down for 15 minutes and it turns into 20, or 30. Often longer practice sessions for beginning and intermediate learners become a slog of "I've run out of stuff to practice, so now I have to repeat all of it all over again - and likely worse this time". If you're at upper levels, sure, practice for hours, but at a lower level that's just an exercise in futility, and an opportunity to work mistakes and bad habits into your playing. don't play it sort of right 5 times, play it right one time.
took (and quit) piano as a kid. took (and didn't practice) guitar as a teenager. I have basic knowledge of music and can slowly read music and plunk it out on the piano. My 8 year old is FAR more advanced than I am. I can still strum and finger pick some basic cowboy chords and 70s folk stuff on the guitar. that's a long way of saying... no, but kinda.