As of this moment, I've practiced 6.5 hours on the violin this week. An hour a day seems to be the most I've been able to manage, and I have to break it up. After half an hour, my brain feels like mush and I start playing worse and worse. So I put the violin down and go off to do some knitting or spinning. When I come back to it later, I can feel and hear that I'm much better. So apparently my brain can only handle 30 minutes of new info at a time.
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| My lovely violin |
And that's fine, because my body has to adapt as well. My muscles have to be toned and built up for playing violin just as they would have to be for any kind of sport. Well, maybe not quite as much as, say, a weightlifter or something, but still. And since I've had whiplash on the left side of my neck and I have muscle spasms in the whole "shoulder girdle" (the massage therapist's term for it), I have to proceed slowly. One of the things I really have to think about while I'm playing is keeping my neck and shoulders relaxed. As the pieces become more difficult, I start tensing up and before I know it the muscle just below my left shoulder is burning. So half an hour at a time is plenty for right now.
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| A Bach piece I'm working on |
On the knitting/spinning front, I'm trying to decide which projects I'll work on for Tour de Fleece. I'm not sure how TdF started, but it's where you spin every day that the Tour de France race is going on. You can set goals for yourself--some people want to spin a mile of yarn (which is not as hard as it sounds) and some challenge themselves to use a new fiber or technique. I think I'll focus on getting all the spindle projects done. Last time I counted, I had nine spindles with fiber on them. I've joined a couple of "teams" on Ravelry, so I'll be posting my progress and seeing what everyone else is doing in each team's thread. It's good fun
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| A few of the prospective TdF spindles |
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that is a lot of hours to practice. I can imagine how your neck and shoulder must get tense as you really get into a piece.
ReplyDeleteoh, that pink roving is so pretty. looks like cotton candy.
Your violin is lovely. Would love to hear you play. And your spindles are very pretty. I bought a spindle at Stringtopia and there was some Miss Babs fiber in our Welcome Bag. I think I am going to try drop spindling with that sample during the TdF. Hey that can be my goal for challenging a new technique.
ReplyDeleteKraftyKathy
Years ago when I had sheep, I did a lot of spinning, weaving and knitting. I still have my spinning wheel and drop spindles. My first spindle was an apple with a pencil stuck in it. It's amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it. Good luck on your violin challenge.
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