Week Seven: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

This week I officially started working on Christmas Carols! 

     After working on The Old Grey Goose last week and my bow techniques, Piotr gave me some Christmas songs to work on in my lesson yesterday. I started with Good King Wenceslas and then a few minutes later took on the challenge of Silent Night. Piotr assured me that though it is pretty, Silent Night was not written for the violin, so it is much more challenging to learn and execute. However, I'm loving the challenge! I was the first of his students that he let start the Christmas songs which I think is a large accomplishment and is very exciting. 

     Unfortunately, yet again, I was not able to practice very much this week. I only pulled off two practice sessions which means that, in my opinion, my playing did not improve very much. This was my biggest let down because it meant I didn't really have anything to really 'show' Piotr at my lesson. In spite of this however, he still played violin and piano harmonies to accompany me and let me learn the two new Christmas songs. Being able to sight read and decently play these tunes within the forty-five minute lesson was my highlight. I got to play with my teacher and it actually sounded good. I love doing this!The video that I've shared with you includes The Old Grey Goose (sorry it's out of tune) and some scales. 

     My goal for next week is to learn to play Silent Night and Good King Wenceslas faster and with more gusto. Piotr told me to keep on plugging away, working on increasing my tempo and really challenging myself to see how fast I can go. He also told me to keep working on my scales which I think have improved quite a bit! Hopefully I will be able to learn vibrato before Christmas. I will ask Piotr about it during my lesson next week. Lets all keep our fingers crossed that I will be able to practice more next week! It is so disappointing when I can't fit it in.

Cheers!