Violin

Someone offered me a violin this winter, and I finally got my hands on it last week. They came over and set me up, showed me a few things. This woman also brought her three year old granddaughter and her one sixteenth violin and once Sebastian laid eyes on that thing, well. Let's just say this woman came back the other day with one for him. She has a closest full of violins, apparently, and luckily we're on the receiving end. I've wanted to learn the violin for a while now. It's not the sexiest instrument. It sounds pretty excruciating most of the time, and it's tricky. I've already formed all sorts of bad habits. But I also taught myself some scales, and one of my only redeeming musical qualities is that I can read music, so I also taught myself an old folk song. Don't think it doesn't sound awful, because it does! But it's really fun, and I think it's gotten me through some of the stress of these last few weeks of grad school. You can't take anything seriously when you sound like a cat being shaved. And there's no room in your head for anything but where to place your fingers when you're playing the violin. If you're off by a millimetre or less, you're often playing a completely wrong note. So the challenge has been productive, if also annoying for all my loved ones. 

But enough about me, the real treat is Sebastian's interpretation of the old folk song "Shady Grove." His companion piece seems to be called "Shady Grove, Going Down THAT Hill!" Unfortunately for everyone, I can't figure our how to rotate this video with my limited skills.