Dad’s been asking me to bring my violin back to Woodthrush because he’s knows that I’ve pretty much stopped playing, and I’ve resisted because a home without a musical instrument seems like it is incomplete. But, in the year that we’ve been in NYC, I’ve had it out of the case exactly twice, both times in our first month there.
I’d started playing when I was five and when I got old enough to have a full-size instrument, Dad let me have this one. He had two, but this one was the louder and I tended to be too quiet. In college, I developed tendinitis in my shoulder and we discovered that I had a congenital condition that got aggravated by, among other things, bowing. Why was college different? That’s when I started working as a puppeteer and, you know, that kind of works the shoulders a bit. I stopped being able to play for more than about twenty minutes at a time, but would still haul it out because I loved it.
But the frequency got farther apart. The interesting thing is that I’d pick the instrument up and for about five minutes could play like I’d never stopped and then it was as if my brain caught up and said, “Whoa! Whoa! Are you crazy? You can’t play this thing,” and it would all vanish.
It got progressively more frustrating to pull it out of the case and know how much my skills had dropped. I mean, I was never brilliant, but I played for seventeen years and now it’s… well, it’s like a foreign language. I look at sheet music that I remember being able to play and it’s so hard now. With the shoulder thing, it’s not like I could work at it and regain the old level.
So, since Dad asked, and it’s his birthday, I’ve brought the violin home.
Aww, leaving your violin.
That sounds so sad, Mary.
I remember when Rob first met
“This wonderful girl.” he told us,
“She plays the violin!” Well of
course, that was enough said.
Oh, you heard about “this wonderful girl” momk? I heard about “A girl… A WONDERFUL girl”, who “collects old etiquette books and “likes to entertain”… “I think you’ll like her”
so true.
violin or not.
Oh hush, you two.
I got to attend Voyage of The Little Mermaid last night. It has Under The Sea as puppets under blacklight, with the puppeteers dancing around in all black making the puppets move. It’s really cool to watch (regardless of the fact you can see the puppeteers if you’re in the front row like we were) and I thought of you the whole time. 😀
That sucks…is there another instrument you can take up to fill a part of the void?
Maybe the mandolin. It’s tuned the same way. And I sing.
I’m in a similar boat. I started at age 5 and played violin and viola for 14 years before putting them aside.
I kept my viola, though.
Yeah, I think it’s that I’m going from “don’t play” to “can’t play.”
Same here. I had to google the clef last time I tried in order to figure out what the first note was. If I can get the first note right I can deduce the others from it, but it’s slow going now. My fingers don’t go to exactly the right places anymore.
Darn it. You’re making me want to pick the violin up and play while I’m here visiting my folks.
I can understand the frustration. Maybe you can play when you visit home. It will be something to do whenever you visit.
That’s true. I really should haul it out and play while I’m here.
Definitely sad. Though since your shoulder ruled out working your way back to a level of proficiency that you might have been comfortable with, I guess hanging onto the instrument when your father had asked you to bring it home would have been not so good either.
Bleah.
I’m still early in the Irish flute thing, so I don’t yet have long years of playing behind me, but I can already sympathize. I think the suggestion of taking up some other instrument that wouldn’t be physically taxing in the same way is a good one.
Someday I have to hear you play Irish flute.
Someday you might. I guess I should practice more….
Yes, since you don’t have my excuse.
This is the first fiddle I ever owned. I bought it from a cousin who bought it at a pawn shop for $10. Things have changed since 1964. I took it to an old time jam last night and it really puts out a lot of sound compared to my “good” fiddle but it is really harsh to practice with.
I didn’t know that it was your first fiddle! I knew about the pawn shop, but that was it.
Mary: I had the same experience when I finally gave away my clarinette. I played for, I don’t know, around the same amount of time. When I moved to California it stayed in it’s case until I finally took it out and realized I didn’t have the lip muscles to play anymore. The music looked like a foreign language to me. It was distressing. I finally gave it to a charity so maybe some child could get some pleasure out if it. Of course, the corks really needed to be replaced. Sigh. A part of my life I’ll never reclaim. Not exactly a bad thing. But sentimental.
Yeah, it’s that moment when you look at sheet music that ought to be something you can play and you just can’t.
I guess I’m not talking about just a musical instrument, but it is sad when, for whatever reason, we have to put away a talent in order to focus on another one.
I have the same feeling looking at my guitars (still have two). I haven’t touched them for over a year now. Looked at my old sight reading book, still marked at where I stopped by in high school, now it looks like so much chicken scratching. I could probably tease it out, but not at the speed to play it in real time (16th notes runs, um, yeah, could do that once). And then playing songs I used to know by heart, like Blackbird, and the fingers still work, just not in synch or as sure. Getting old sucks.