by Anne E.

Created on: July 19, 2009

In third grade, you can imagine how it was a fun challenge for me to learn the violin. With my sister starting in third grade, I did too. I didn't have a teacher to teach me, but my sister to do it. It was hard to try to learn from someone with only a year's more practice than me, but I managed to make something fun out of it. You don't have to be scolded at whenever you made an obvious mistake. My sister was patient and kind.

I already knew how to play piano. That helped me play violin. I could use my ears better and know whenever I was out of tune or when I made a mistake. I listened closely and made my sound sound better. My dad used to say, "It's all in the bowing. You play the same notes on the same instrument, so why does your teacher's violin sound better than yours?"

I gradually learned more and more and got better and better until my father finally got me a teacher. His name was Mr. Rodriguez. I had to play in a group with many other advanced people. We played many fun songs and learned many things my sister didn't teach me. Mr, R was also great. He was funny and always so jolly. I practiced hard on the songs i was supposed to play after lessons. At night, I spent 2 hours, from 6:30 to 8:30, practicing. It was hard work, but I knew it would pay off somehow.

It was a year afterwards when I started playing violin in elementary school. I had a teacher and lots of friends also trying to learn violin. My elementary school teacher put me in the first seat of first violin because since I already had a year of practice, I was better than everyone else. The songs my teacher gave me where not my level. They were always too easy for me. I told him, and he started giving me challenge songs. Things were working out great at school.

I strived for more interesting things, and I got them. I learned how to shift and play vibrato. It was, of course very hard to keep up up and practice every day, but with lots of self control and determination, I learned to play many advanced things.

Of course, I started to go on stage and play my violin. I went to concerts and joined contests. My friends came along with me, so I wasn't lonely at all. No, violin was a great experience for me.

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