It All Started With "On Top of Spaghetti"

[beandelphiki]

In other me-related news (beandelphiki - all me, all the time!), I'm trying right now to learn how to play the violin.

EVERYBODY keeps asking me, "Why the violin? Why now?" etc. when I tell them.

And I just...don't have any real answers to that. (Other than, I suppose, "Why NOT?") Piano was the instrument I first fell for (probably for no better reason than it was the first instrument I heard and saw performed live); violin was the second. I've been listening to a lot of violin music these days, and I guess I just fell for it all over again.

And this seems to be a decent time of my life to try to learn; in a few years I may be so caught up with the start of some career that I simply won't have time.

When I was a kid, I was DESPERATE to play some sort of musical instrument, but my parents kept feeding me lines about how we couldn't afford to pay for lessons or an instrument of any kind.

I suspect that was a partial lie, as I've discovered for myself over the years just how cheaply it's possible to obtain an instrument of some sort. (For example, I just rented my violin from Long and McQuade for $15/month, and I own a basic electronic keyboard I got for just under a hundred dollars on Boxing Day last year.) Lessons are a tad more pricey, but even those can be had cheaply if you're willing to be resourceful.

No, I think the real reason my parents didn't invest that much effort into getting me music lessons was that they didn't believe I'd ever have the discipline to play anything. (Also, there's the simple fact that NONE of the rest of my family besides my sister, my first cousin and myself are in any way musical. For some reason, no serious interest in playing music appears in my family until our generation. So I doubt they placed any real value on it - we got ATHLETIC opportunities in spades, though.)

My parents plied me with penny whistles and harmonicas over the years, and then complained if I actually attempted to play them. It was pathetic. I didn't get to play anything seriously until 7th grade band class, where I tried the flute (a total disaster!), followed by the clarinet (a complete success!).

Since I dropped out of school in 11th grade though, I haven't really played anything at all. When I went back to school I couldn't fit Band into my schedule again, and I didn't own any instrument of my own, so keeping up with the clarinet was a no-go.

So here I am, attempting this music-playing business all over again. That was actually the plan when I bought the keyboard, but one of my parent's oldest excuses actually still applies to that one: we have no convenient place in our house to PUT it right now, no handy spot to plug it in. We're massively re-organizing our house right now, too. Maybe when we're done moving the entire contents of whole rooms around, we'll find a spot.

In the meantime, the violin fits much better!

Not that I've gotten very far. I've had it for two weeks now, and it's been a bit of a struggle so far. The violin is an instrument that nearly everyone will tell you requires lessons to learn, and I can see why - it's by far the most difficult musical instrument I've ever attempted to play.

As a result, most resources seem to assume (moreso than similar resources to learn, say, guitar, or even piano) that you have a teacher who will teach you basic stuff like FINGERING. Seriously, none of the books I checked out at the music store even had FINGERING CHARTS. WTF?

But hey, intarwebz to the rescue! I've managed to locate fingering charts online, violin lessons on YouTube, and have pieced together much of the basic stuff on my own. It's not as good as lessons, but I've looked and - beginner violin lessons for adults in Calgary are in rather short supply, so. Don't knock what I have to work with.

So now, TWO WEEKS LATER, I can play a scale. Go me. Also, I managed the other day my Very First (pained, hesitant, wibbly-wobbly) Vibrato. I'm on fire, I tell you.


But really, I haven't been discouraged in the least, and I've actually been motivated thus far to practice every day (even if I could only start out bowing on the open strings). I can't quite describe the sense of banked excitement playing this thing gives me.

Playing practically ANY musical instrument gives me this sense of...something waiting for me. Past the period of technical mastery, there's something sitting there inside the instrument waiting for me to bring it out. But I've NEVER felt it as strongly as I do with this violin.

When I first pulled it out of the case and tightened the bow, I fully expected the first sound I made on it to sound like a cat in heat. That's what happened to my sister the time she tried her friend's viola. That's what everything I've ever heard about orchestral string instruments had taught me to expect. So I put the violin up (probably not in the greatest position, I figured, but for the moment it seemed passable), put the bow carefully on the G string, braced myself - and drew the bow across.

And...the sound it made was BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely beautiful. I loved it, and that sense of the music waiting inside the instrument for me was so strong it was almost tangible.

Obviously, I'm lightyears from technical competence, but that doesn't frustrate me an iota. Actually, this feeling is driving, for once.

I hope I can hold on to that, because honestly, I don't ever want this excitement to go away again. So the longer it lasts, the better.