Violin; raw novice.

Hi,

Thanks @Logan I'm now spending more time in the studio practicing playing the violin and getting used to all the new studio gear which is highly interesting.

I've just returned from the tip having dumped more bags of acorns; a bumper crop this year; pity I don't know anyone near owning pigs because I think pigs enjoy acorns?

Kind regards, Colin.

 

That's great Colin about your practicing, yes there's a lot of acorns this year, didn't know about pigs liking them but they'll eat anything.

 

Hi,

Thanks @Logan I'm unsure about pigs eating acorns but I think I heard about this many years ago; as you say pigs will eat just about anything; as a child most families were in real poverty struggling to survive with little food and clothes always handed down; my friend John lived next door to neighbours who had a few pigs and John used to earn a bit of pocket money doing a round collecting potato peelings and any scraps of food for his neighbours pigs trundling a two wheeled cart the wheels salved from an old pram; I often accompanied him as I did whilst he fed cows at the farm across the road from him this way back around 1960. Yes I've always lived a life of luxury.

I've been doing more violin practicing and have two short sessions I'm about to put together as an audio video for YouTube which I'm sure will take time and frustrate me but I'll enjoy the challenge; one session is playing my Yamaha YEV-4 electric violin the second session is playing my 1880 German acoustic violin but with a Fishman V-200 professional piezo pick up fitted making it electric. I tried recording the German violin on its own but wasn't happy so I hooked it up to the Yamaha THR amp and it was immediately transformed.

Now I'm spending more time in the studio I'm more relaxed and settle down to enjoy learning.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Pigs will eat acorns as part of a mixed diet. Acorns are posionous to cattle, sheep and horses. This is why pigs used to be allowed to forage in woodland, in autumn, in the middle ages. Still happens in the New Forest.
Also in Spain the pigs are allowed to forage among the cork oaks.

 

Hi,

Many thanks @NigelJ for the information; I was pretty sure pigs could eat acorns but was relying on memory. If the pigs ate our bountiful crop of acorns this year they would certainly be classed as pot bellied; pity all our neighbours cat's can't eat acorns because we spend a fortune spoiling them every year.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

I've just enjoyed an hours violin practice but come out of the studio to get warm and have a mug of tea; I turned the CH radiator on to warm the studio before going in for a practice session so the studio was warm but I hadn't realized how cold I'd become; the radiator valve turned the radiator off once the studio reached temperature but before coming on again there was a delay hence feeling cold; if I set the heating higher then I feel too hot; oh hum what fun.

It's a while since I posted on this thread so an update whilst I warm up. Here's my studio gear to date my wonderful wife having spoiled me rotten over the year; sorry if I repeat something already posted;



Forefront is the Tascam pocket studio I'm now using a lot for recording. The Behringer interface I've not yet got to grips with; the Meris Enzo Synthesizer is a fun bit of expensive kit to play around with especially if you like the sounds of the original Dr Who TV series.

My studio laptop I'll eventually be using for editing etc. Note bespoke mouse mat of me on my BMW bike.

Here's my updated own Lara's Theme score; I already had enough to learn just playing the violin and learning to read music would simply overload me so I dreampt up my own way of reading music to suit me; I tried a number of options but this is now the one that really does work for me; it's time consuming to copy Lara's Theme song word by word then having bought a copy of the original music score determine the correct note for each word some words are split into two notes. The word is on top as the first one "SOME" below is the string it being "G" then position it being "B". This really has speeded up my learning I can now play half the song; each A4 page is printed large #22 Font making it so easy to read. I've suffered incredible problems the whole year fighting for violin time. My birthday in August I had planned at last to spend a few hours in the studio having finally got on top of all the exterior jobs like felling and disposing of 15 very tall trees; I popped out to visit the wheelie bin but returning I was horrified to see the rear two roomed extension had broken away from the main bungalow; the extreme heat during summer had dried the clay foundations allowing the entire two rooms to break away; LV INSURANCE were a total waste of time; being fully covered I tried to phone them but feared I wouldn't live long enough to speak to someone; joining hands to contact the dead I'm sure would have been quicker so I then filled in their online claim form marking it urgent and waited and waited and waited; August bank hiliday arrived and absolutely fed up I sent a message cancelling the claim; now a rapid reply asking me to confirm claim application. For subsidence damage we would have to pay £1,000 excess to LV; well STUFF LV I did the repairs on my own with Bron's support the lot costing only £400 for best materials; this took two weeks to complete; great birthday?

My Yamaha THR 10 amplifier; it's a beauty and getting used a lot.

Laney guitar amp with Line6 Relay on top.

My new Yamaha YEV-104 electric violin plus Line6 transmitter I attach to my belt; not cheap either of them but well worth the money. In the cases are two more of my violins but at the moment I'm concentrating playing the Yamaha violin and amp.

Mechanical metronome still to learn; one of the apmplified monitors and the Yamaha keyboard I bought hoping to temp Bron into having a go playing an instrument.

The second monitor also a car radio I've rigged up to power from a 12V power supply allowing me to play recordings of Lara's Theme from memory stick (Andy Williams).

My new Rode microphone at the moment tied with string because the support is too weak to hold it in position; I'll sort this out but at the moment it works.

In spite of all the hardships I have created my first music video;



No apologies it's definitely not my best effort but I wanted to learn how to get the music from the bow onto YouTube and it was much more difficult than expected taking many hours playing around changing file types then using editing programs "Audacity" and "VEED" both these giving more for me to learn; I wasn't too bothered about the actual playing more concerned in sorting everything out; so much to learn all at once but I'm winning; I'm now practicing to give a better recording then I'll post it on YouTube.

It's now over a year since Bron generously bought me my first ever violin but during the year studio time has been hard won; not just learning to play a violin but everything that goes with it like learning to record and basic editting; using my own score though really has speeded up playing Lara's Theme; once again I think I'm on top of all the demands on my time so I'm eagerly looking forward to some serious violin practicing; I'm not taking lessons and I don't know anyone who plays a violin so I'll learn the hard way but enjoy it.

I'm now warm so I'd better get off my backside and into the studio for another violin practice before dinner is ready. Life is good.

Kind regards, Colin.