Hello again everybody!  This was again an O.K. week for me in strings.  just like last week, my biggest struggle remains playing the correct string.  It is always so awkward when in the middle of a song, I hit for example the E string when I am supposed to be playing the A string.  It almost always makes a loud screeching noise when this happens.  I am working very hard to prevent this.  Anyway, I am also getting very nervous about spring concert and that it is in only 4 days until it.  I am hoping that  I do O.K.  See you next week.  Wait! this is the last blog!

Sam

Hello fellow strings class bloggers!  This week hasent been very good for me in strings.  Yesterday, when we had our performance test, I thought I could of played a bit better, and I should of used a better posture.  Mostly all the other songs that we play are going pretty good, except for the song that me, Serena, and Will are playing.  The two things I am having trouble with in that song are 1. The high notes and 2. playing the right string.  One of the most embarrassing things are those high pitched notes that come when the wrong string is played and when the wrong part of the string is played.  Anyways, I hope next week goes a bit better.

Sam

Hello Fellow Students! This week has been an interesting one in strings class.  On Monday, we did our performance test.  I think I performed well except for a few little high pitched sounds from not bowing right.  That is what I could improve on.  Also, That trio that Serena, Will and I is turning out to be a lot harder than it initially looked like.  The biggest problem I have with it is the notes on the E string.   I am not so used to reading those high notes and I do not know where to put my fingers for them.   And the fact that a lot of the notes are not even on the dots doesn't help.  If we learn it in time I think it will be a great song for spring concert.  That's mostly what I need to practice for this week.  Anyways, have a great rest of the day!

Happy practicing,

Sam

Hello fellow strings class bloggers!  This week has so far been a great one for me in strings.  Before this week, we would only play some of those popular, yet easier songs. It was fun, but now that we are playing seriously famous songs like Allegro and minuet, it's even more fun because I actually feel somewhat professional.  I'm actually looking forward to playing at spring concert if we can play those famous songs.  It will definitely look more professional than playing "Mary had a little lamb" and "twinkle twinkle".  Thats basically all I have to say for this week, except for wishing you all a very happy day.

Comments

Hello fellow strings class students!  Some comments from the past week:

1. I think the performance in chapel went great.  One thing we could of worked on though is the timing.  I felt as though some were going too fast and others too slow.  Even I had to stop a couple times to make sure I was playing at the same time as everyone else.  I also think we did great for performing songs that we had learned in the last 30 minutes.  If we could of had 1 more day it would of been fantastic.
2. For the "trouble" section, I honestly didn't have any this week.  The one thing a found a bit challenging though was the speed of some of the songs.  But I found after I played them a few times, they were fine.
3. Since the last couple weeks were somewhat short and quick.  I have no more comments except that I am still enjoying this strings course very much so.

Signing off, 

Sam

Hello fellow UMEI strings class bloggers!  Today for my practice blog I will be talking about today's class.  If you don't remember, today we played in 3 part harmony.  I was extremely amazed at how good it sounded.  I am actually looking forward to playing that kind of music at the spring concert.  I didn't really find anything hard with that song except jumping from string to string, for example jumping from the D string to the G string.  But, as we played it again and again, it started to get easier. By the end of the class it was second nature.  I am still tremendously enjoying this strings course and I look forward to every one.  Signing out,

Sam

Hello fellow Strings class students!  The experience of playing the violin has been a great one so far for me.  It is a challenge, but it is also very fun.  One of the only challenges that I have had while playing is when to do an up bow or a down bow.  I can start it off easily, but if I make even a small mistake, then my rhythm is messed up and I find it hard to get back on track.  I don't know what everyone else thinks about that, but that is one of my challenges.  So far, I am having a lot of fun in the course and I look forward to learning more things.  One thing that I liked was when today we actually started playing songs that I knew.  It was very exiting!

Sam

Hello there fellow Strings class students.  I am very exited about posting about my violin playing.  For my first post, I will be talking about some things.  One aspect I am looking forward to in this course is to learn the violin and to be able to play a few songs on it.  One aspect I am anxious about is performing.  I always get nervous when I am performing something in front of a large audience.  This is one thing that I am very anxious about.  I play to commit about 30 every other day or maybe sometimes even more.  I know that to become sucssesful at anything you must practice a great deal.  I hope to learn how to play a few songs and maybe even a few popular songs.  Those are my goals for this course.