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I love this Sarah Andersen cartoon because it perfectly captures how we make progress in our art forms by just simply practicing. It's not a mystery, it's practice. It's not magic, it's practice. Not one violinist in the entire world was born playing the violin. Each and every one of us had to practice, practice and practice. 
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New FREEBIES and reflections from the first term of nursing school.  The title of this blog post reminds me of the start to a bad joke: "A quote, a lightbulb and a violin duet walk into a bar....." If you were thinking the same thing then that is fair enough since these are some pretty random things grouped together. I am on my winter break from my first term of nursing school. I learned so much during those first 11 weeks AND, it was really difficult. I was a straight A student going into this program and now I am just hoping to pass my courses. There is a looming pressure with every exam because if you do not pass a class you are automatically dropped from the program. I had a friend this first term who missed 1 question and this single point was enough to disqualify her from being in the program. I could easily discuss how my musician training has helped me prepare for the challenge of nursing school, which it has. This has been studied extensively and would be an upbeat and inspiring blog post about the vast benefits of a musical education. Instead, I wanted to share some basic human need for support and bolstering of my outlook with a positive attitude. Even though we are adults, we still need this as much as the young children we work with do. Just like we need to tune our violins every day (and sometimes multiple times a practice session) we also need to “tune our attitudes.” Greatness needs failures. Since my first term of nursing school felt like a giant trial and error experiment, I used the quote posted above to help accomplish this attitude tune-up. Thomas Edison has a whopping 1,093 patents to his name and is credited with things like the lightbulb, phonograph and earliest motion picture cameras. He knew a thing or too about how to turn dreams into reality and his quote: “I have not failed, I have found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” shares how he used his attitude to turn his dreams into realities. It is a great reminder of how important and powerful a powerful attitude can be. I feel so strongly about installing a mental foundation with an attitude that yields the highest outcome that both my students and myself sign pledges to each other at the beginning of every school year for each of us to commit to having a positive attitude at every lesson and practice session. See the pledges HERE. Moving on in explanation of the random blog subjects in the title, the Thomas Edison quote reminded me of the Shinichi Suzuki quotes I had printed up last year and mailed as gifts to express my gratitude to all the musicians who made purchases that year. I loved how they turned out (click here to see). I posted these image files on the FREEBIES page for more people to access and share in the brilliance and inspiration of Shinichi Suzuki. Scroll down on the FREEBIES page since they are nearly at the bottom. I also posted one of my favorite baroque duets on the FREEBIES page called the King's March, or King William's March composed by Jeremiah Clarke. I think many of you will really love having this to play and/or share with students. King William's March Violin Sheet Music Shinichi Suzuki Quotes   I know from decades of experience teaching that nothing makes a young student more excited than being able to play Jingle Bells. Please enjoy this free gift of a LARGE print arrangement of Jingle Bells for beginning violin (with fingerings added) available on the FREEBIES page. Happy holidays and happy music making!  Happy Holidays! If I had a magic wand and could give all of you the gift that I really want to share with everyone reading this, it would be an event that drew us together into a *giant play along of holiday music with plenty of time scheduled for getting to know each other and eat cookies. How exciting would that be? That is currently impossible for me to organize, BUT, I can share some of the most favorite tunes from the holiday season with you so that you can play music and of course, eat cookies. Please enjoy some free downloads of Jingle Bells sheet music arranged for violin: a duet version and a LARGE print with fingerings for beginners version. These are currently posted on my FREEBIES page. There is no shortage of ways to be musical and connect with this great joy that we share:
So, please head on over to the M4YV FREEBIES page to download a Jingle Bells duet from the Holiday JOY! collection. I made a slight change in this from the original publication so you may want to download again if you received the original arrangement 2 + years ago. I created this duet for my studio and it is designed to have a majority of players play the melody so the accompaniment part may sound a little overpowering with just 2 players. Also on the FREEBIES page is a LARGE print version of Jingle Bells for beginners. This is featured in the LARGE Print Music for Beginning Violin collection. An enlarged format is perfect for any musician who is new to reading music since it makes it much more accessible. BONUS - Both of these collections are on sale at 50% off thru the end of the month. Happy music making and thank you for your support! Heather
"The sound of over 4,000 violinists playing together in harmony was like nothing I've ever experienced, and it was made all the more amazing to think that the last time anyone heard a sound like that was over 80 years ago, when the last record was set in at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1925."   |
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AuthorHi! It's me, Heather. I absolutely love working on the Music for Young Violinists project and all the many facets: blogging, website, music, teaching materials, freebies, videos, newsletter and giveaway contests. The best part is connecting with you so feel free to drop me a line. You can learn more about me on the "ABOUT" page. Thanks! |
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