Trouble with Violins

Jewelia traded up her violin back in September, but we just weren't happy with it.  Her last violin had such a nice bright sound to it, while this new one although it was much prettier, it just didn't have the same tone to it.  

It was October now, and while Jewelia was happy about being Rapunzel for Halloween, she wasn't happy about her violin.  Or rather, mom and dad couldn't take the awful high pitched squeakiness and scratchy cat dying sounds that this violin kept producing.  Well, it was close to Halloween, but it would be nice to not have the cat screeching noises when Halloween was over.  

So, off we went back to the violin shop.  Last time we had been so distracted by the new violin's beauty (it was so much nicer than the look of her last violin that was so previously beat up by some careless renter) that we must have missed that it didn't sound that great.  They began showing us a few more violins.  We weren't sure, so we took 3 of them up to Jewelia's violin teacher to see what she thought.  

Well, none of these were really that great either, but what do you do?  We are just renting and so we can't expect the best just yet.  We aren't looking into going broke purchasing a super expensive violin that she is going to outgrow in a year.  So, we picked what we thought was the best of the bunch, although this one seemed a bit more mellow and not as loud. 

Then we had Jewelia play some new song to record.  

Here she tries "The Entertainer":

          

There is sounded a bit muted.  That didn't seem right.

And here she plays her latest Suzuki song, "Minuet in G":

           

We still weren't sure.  It kind of sounded scratchy a bit.  Then, when going to Jewelia's next violin lesson, her teacher noticed there was this sort of rough "buzzing" sound and that there was a crack in the side that might be causing it!  Oh no!  This was not going well!  Plus, they said it was going to take over 2 weeks to even look at, so they gave us a loaner one in the meanwhile.  What a mess!  Hopefully things would work out soon!  

Jewelia Guest Stars on Sundays @ 6

A few months ago, Jewelia's older brother Caleb started a weekly webcast series called "Sundays @ 6" where he performs different arrangements of church songs each week.  

Occasionally, he has asked Jewelia to join him for a duet of a fancy church arrangement.  So far, Jewelia has been on 3 times.  Once to sing and twice to play a violin duet.  

The first time she was on, she helped sing a song.  It was in a really high key, so a bit of a reach, but she did alright.  This is "I Often Go Walking":

              

The second time Jewelia made a guest appearance was for a violin duet on "Heavenly Father Loves Me" :

           

Then, most recently she appeared again with an arrangement for violin that her brother wrote to go with a piano arrangement of "There is a Green Hill Far Away".  This one was tough because her brother just barely came up with the arrangement about an hour before he was supposed to upload his show.  So Jewelia barely had a chance to practice it through.  She still did a good enough job though.

           

After recording this particular song we realized that Jewelia's new violin really did have a kind of scratchy and hard to listen to tone that kind of irritated our ears when she played on certain strings.  So, off to the violin shop we went to see about getting a little bit better violin with a better tone.  

(Oh, if you are interested in Jewelia's brother's "Sundays @ 6" weekly webcasts, you can like him on facebook, check out his blog, or look him up on YouTube.)

Birthdays, Back to School and Back to More Songs

Jewelia just started the 3rd grade!  She is getting so old!  Well, I suppose she is somewhat young as a 7 year old in 3rd grade, but 3rd grade sounds old.  

Fall is always busy with back to school and dance classes, and many people in her family celebrate their birthdays in September and October.  Although it is busy, Jewelia still works hard to keep up on her violin practice.  

Here she is playing a new song from Les Miserables called Do You Hear the People Sing?

           

Jewelia recently traded in her violin to a bigger size once again.  We aren't so sure of this one.  It sounds a bit scratchy.  It is tough when you have to rent student violins.  

Jewelia Plays in a Concert Downtown

Jewelia was invited to play with her brothers at a concert downtown this past August.  

She played a song with Caleb and then a fiddle duet with her brother Micah on his guitar.  

Here is part of her Gavotte with Caleb;

And here is her fiddle duet:

            

Jewelia does great on the big stage 

Violin Lessons; Fun with Duets

Jewelia has the best violin teacher.  Her name is Emily and she is so nice and fun.  

Sometimes when we go to lessons we take a camera to record the fun duets they do.  

Here Jewelia practices a fiddle duet with her teacher called Swallowtail Jig:

             

Outdoors and Still Fiddlin' Away

Jewelia has been having a fun summer and enjoying some hiking in the outdoors.  

It seems to suit her that she would choose to play yet another fiddle song!  

This is actually a recording from a few months before her recital, but we forgot to put it up on the blog.

Here she is playing "St. Anne's Reel":