I found this on youtube and thought that you might like to see it.

I think it is fab

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfaBZaRylwA

On a slightly sadder note, i have had to give up my lessons for the time being. Our car died spectacularly 2 weeks ago - nearly taking us with it I need a car for the school run, so finances are being a bit squeezed.

My teacher has been great, offering me free telephone support and fitting me in for the odd lesson if i can. Hopefully it won't be too long before i can return properly, but she sorted me out with some exercises and pieces of music to play in the meantime.

At the very least it solved my Grade 3 dilemma

That video is great. I love it.

Sorry to heaar you had to quit lessons but I am sure you can mange for a short period at least on your own.

Cool video

Sorry to hear about your problem. But I'm sure you can manage without regular lessons. For the past year, I've been having lessons once a month or even once every 5 or 6 weeks cos I couldn't afford it. But I managed to teach myself scales, 3rd, 2nd and 4th position without too much help from my teacher. Last month, I started more regular lessons again with a new teacher and I realised my techique was ok, the only issue I have is being "musicial" - I just play notes rather than turning it into music! My teacher told me to listen to more classical music and that would increase my awareness.

Good luck!

No alternatives for transport in the meantime? What about buying the kids bikes or letting them walk/bus. Think healthy!

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately walking is not an option. My son is only 5 and we travel 5 miles each way, poor kid would be knackered before he got there Buses are also a no go, we are fairly rural and public transport is poor at best.

But do not fear - we make my husband cycle to work

I've also just started on the exercises in 3rd position my teacher recommended to work slowly through and i will see how i get on.

I'm also interested in getting a folk tunes book. Any recommendations ? Ideally i would want one with a CD as i'm not too familiar with these melodies.

YES! With a CD - extremely important if you want to play them properly. I massively recommend Matt Cranitch's excellent Irish fiddle book which comes with a CD of him playing the pieces slowly, has good explanations of rhythmic subtleties and ornamentation so that you'll play the tunes properly, rather than in a watered down classical style. I think it's about 25 pounds in the UK, but it has some two hundred tunes and would probably take you more than a year to work through.

Once you've mastered the basics, the Kevin Burke DVD's are a good next step - he explains some further stuff about tunes and teaches some nice ones. After that, you'll be able to learn tunes effectively from a score, or by listening to a CD and copying - once you've got the dialect down.

Enjoy the folk fiddling and don't hesitate to ask for advice if you need it!

Allan

It's not exactly a book, but BBC Radio 2 have an online folk music selection which you can play along with. It's free and you can get stuck in straight away. One of the chaps in my ceilidh band introduced me to it. Type BBC VIRTUAL SESSION into google and you should find it. Grab your fiddle, pour yourself a beer and pretend you're in a session

Some of the tunes go at a pretty pace and I must admit I find them hard to keep up with, but start off with the waltzes and slow reels and work up to those scary polkas and fast reels. Have fun!

Also, on one, I think it's Saddle the Pony, the sheet music's in a different key to the recording. I seem to remember we found it easier to play in the key of the recording rather than the sheet music

Good resource though, I looked at it a while back and we got a few new tunes from it. I'm sure I'd use it more often, but at the moment I seem to be getting my fill of real sessions anyway, so I'm not complaining!!

Yep, I've come across one where the sheet music's in a different key to the recording, it probably is Saddle the pony. If I remember right, it's written a 5th lower so it works fab if you play your viola and pretend it's your violin!!

YES AGAIN! Great website for beginners. Saddle the pony is written in D on the site, but most usually played in G, so you're quite right Devil Fiddler to play in the key of the recording, that's the key you'd hear in a usual session.

One proviso for people getting into Trad music this way - the tunes on that site are played VERY slowly, expect them to go much much quicker and with many more variations in a real session. The rhythms of the reels are a tad dodgy too.

It's fantastic site for learning a few tunes and getting used to playing them with other people, though.