7 months of music hiatus

I had this 7-month vacation (sort of) in playing my violin. It was in April that I last played my instrument. It was in April that I last touched it.

Last week, when our semestral break started, my teacher told me that she reserved me a time slot on a Friday after classes just to continue my violin lessons. I was grateful for that. So I went home and I tried playing the violin again. And I'm telling you, most of it I forgot how to play it.

In my coming back it feels like that I'll be starting all the way back to Book 1 of my Suzuki Violin lesson that I worked only for 1 year (usually it takes more than 1 year to master it) and Book 2 that it took me only less than half a year (around 4-6 months). Then if I really do, I might return to doing my etudes, which I never really liked.

The reason why I had a hiatus or a break (vacation) in violin is probably this:

1. I struggled in finishing etudes.

2. I don't like MEMORIZING. You see I'm about to finish Book 3 and I'm about to do Book 4, which requires reading the piece while playing it which is what I love about.

3. I don't join in the group lessons (it's part of the preparation for orchestra performances) because I have ballet at the same time slot of their group lesson. 

4. I got a scholarship in dance, which required  everyday training, so my time slot and my teacher's time slot became mismatched. 

5. I had cramps playing it.  

I seriously love playing the violin. I do. It is just that, the more I play, it felt like I'm playing it not for me but for someone else and the requirement of playing music for happiness is a level that I cannot meet no matter how good I become. 

So in this past 7 months, I realize that if I want to play the songs I want to play, if I want to get to a good college with a good Music course, if I want to be soloist someday, then I'd work by hands off.

I had this one more disadvantage  I started playing the violin when i was 11, quite late for a violinist since they usually start at 3 or 4. But i was happy that i started piano first (but i stopped) because it was easier to read notes in piano. I am musically inclined. 

My family might not be gifted instrument players but my family can really sing well. My aunt, my cousin, my grand uncles, they can sing very well. Sadly i didn't get their ability to sing but i am lucky to be musically inclined because my brothers are intellectually inclined (Smart people). 

I am not saying I'm not smart but I am saying I am more on the Arts side. I am not a  person who gets below 75 every quarter. just the average score of 76-90. and I had 100 before in P.E. for dance :)

But I also realized that there are people who started later than me so I shouldn't be down now. My teacher started violin only in around 2nd or 3rd year of high school and still got into the Manila Symphonic Orchestra. So why can't I ? I have to beat it, beat the expectation.

So I had this goal that by the end of this year, I must finish the last song of my book 3 and start book 4 in Jan. 2012. The reason it'll take me more than a month to finish a song that is 2 pages long is because I know that my teacher won't make me jump to the next level so soon. I'll need to regain the strength I used to have from playing the violin. I need to go back and start from scratch.

My fingers still do remember the basic things about violin: fretting and bowing. But the hard things like vibrato, legato, stocato, and more patterned bowing and fretting, it's hard to regain all of them. 

Now I am doing a self-rehabilitation for violin just to regain my strength before I start violin again so it would be easier for me to finish the songs  and start my dream book: #4. 

I'll update you one day about my rehabilitation process from the 7-month hiatus. Then if I am really good again, I'll post up some videos of mine playing your favorite songs. Thank you! Comment, Rate and Suggests. 

Til next time!