Hi,
Thanks dobro; yes I need to learn so much more; intonation; vibrato; reading music etc. I'm still very much a violin novice but have gained a lot more experience since I started last August but I know I've only scratched the surface; I have considered violin lessons but I'm in this for a hobby not wanting to join an orchestra; there are so many demands on my time just maintaining our bungalow and gardens; we recently suffered about five severe storms in two weeks the last storm damaging a huge Crack Willow tree; this tree was like three trees in one having three thick trunks; the weather was dire; hail; sleet; snow and high wind but I went out and removed the dangerous section using one of my petrol 20" chainsaws. Looking at the other very tall trees/conifers being blown around in the high wind I thought I've had enough of this problem every year when it's windy. Still in dire weather and working on the steep wet slope I felled 15 trees in just under two weeks; I logged the thick stuff for a neighbour's woodburner she kept taking full car loads and the brash I shredded now used as garden mulch; I was wrapped up like an Eskimo against the freezing weather but I was also soaking wet with sweat.
Some of the trees the tallest at 60' the rest around 50'.
This was a big conifer at 60' tall; felled perfectly into the top corner of the garden; it would have been highly dangerous had it fallen over the wall because there's a lane just the other side of the wall.
It was very windy indeed and perishingly cold as I worked on my own; every tree landed perfectly saving us a fortune but not recommended for a novice.
15 of these in total meaning I suffered and at night in bed I didn't bother going to sleep I just dropped into a coma.
Over the years I've done a great number of free favours but never ever have had help on these big jobs; Here's just one of the loads one of many; everything had to be carried down from our mountain of a garden to the bottom of our site; I used a sack cart which was terrible due to everything being soaking wet and slippery; people are happy to just collect the logs free of charge not having lifted a finger in the felling but at least it saved many trips to the tip.
I'm adding these stories to explain I'm forever working flat out and being retired for me isn't time to do as I want in fact I struggle to get time to practice violin playing and when I do play I often am tired out; I'm 74 and fitter than many half my age.
Thanks rob for your excellent explanation; being a total violin novice I had to start somewhere; I've spent many hours watching interesting YouTube videos and number of these state as you do not to just concentrate on scales alone;
My dream is to play Lara's theme on a violin I make myself and I can only aspire to such playing as seen in the video; I love this tune and never tire of it; I can play the first two lines of the song but I'm not happy with how it sounds on playback so like you say I've been experimenting a bit; I bought the origial score and have been learning this note for note but the note "Snow" sounds poor so I've been playing around with different notes to see if I can find a note to suit me more.
I like to try different things and to experiment;
Here's some progress I made before winter kicked in; I bought a Strad book containing full sized Strad plans which I've converted to violin patterns in sheet ply; MDF and aluminium.
Here's exactly half the violin when flipped over it gives full sized violin. More of this to follow once I resume work on making a violin.
This is my way of learning to play a violin from scratch; I don't yet read music but I have the score of Lara's Theme so here's what I dreamt up; I don't know if it's ever been done previously but when I have a problem to resolve I give it a lot of thought; everyone's heard of painting by numbers well here I'm violin playing by numbers. I broke the song lines down into single lines the first chart I drew was "Somewhere my love there will be songs to sing" By practicing over and over four notes at a time then joining the notes it worked a treat and built my confidence up; if I don't know something I make up my own way of learning.
Once I can feel more at home using my fingers on the strings and using the bow then I'll start to experiment more but in the meantime I'm making steady if slow progress by learning like this; I can play Twinkle twinkle a number of ways having firstly learned as shown until I got the tune in my head; I'll do the same with Lara's Theme as I gain experience but there's so much going on in my life I find it difficult to settle down and concentrate.
I'll only ever play on my own rob so if I play correct notes it won't bother but I'd like to play correct notes just for my own pleasure. I've already learned a lot just by joining this excellent forum.
I now need to concentrate on the second thread I started whilst I learn to set up my studio; so much to learn and so little time.
Kind regards, Colin