New Project - Violin!

When I was in Kindergarten, I saw a boy play violin on “Sesame Street.” I was enchanted. I remember standing there, in front of the TV, staring at it and listening. “I want to do that,” I thought to myself. 

Years later, in 4th grade, my parents paid to rend a violin for me and I started playing in public school. Coincidentally, the man who lived 2 doors down from us on our street was a violin teacher. I started private lessons with him & went every Saturday until we moved when I was in 11th grade. 

I loved it!

Fast forward, and I was 30 years old, with 2 boys and no time to myself. I stopped playing. 

Some time in my late 40s, I had developed depression and anxiety so badly that I was no longer myself. 

I decided to try doing things I used to enjoy - like playing violin. 

It was a journey to start playing again. For one thing, I had completely forgotten it existed, so I had to start remembering that it exists. One of the things that I did to get myself back in gear to play was get my violin fixed up at Potter’s Violin Shop in Maryland. 

I met a luthier named Chris who showed me his tattoo (at my request). He had an f-hole of a particular violin he had worked on, tattooed on his arm. I was already considering getting an f-hole tattoo on my arm, but when he told me the story of his own tattoo, it made me want to get my own violin f-holes tattooed on my arm. 

I found a lady tattooist in Harrisonburg, Virginia “Artistically Inklined” who traced my violin f-holes and then put them on my right arm. I love my tattoo!!

I thought that would remind me to practice. It didn’t 😅

I have since moved across the country and my day is my own. I started writing down music that I want to learn, and found places to buy the music or subscribe to download the music - see the image to see which music apps I use the most. 

My happiness level is going up, and I have started playing violin now! It’s so fantastic to be able to play music that I like, see what I struggle with so I can get better at it, and just have fun with the whole thing. 

I also signed up for violin lessons and am loving my teacher - he is so much better than I am and I can see the wealth of information that I can learn from him! I’m super excited!

I am super grateful to be re-united with my violin and playing again. It made me so sad when I owned it and remembered loving to play, but couldn’t get motivated to play it anymore. 

Thank you for reading about my journey along the way.