It's the little things that count.

 

The children say, "One, two, three,
four, five, six..."

It appears that, when you practise violin for three hours daily, little things come to you. I've been fortunate to pick up two very important points.

• When you are crossing strings, think about where your right hand arm (or hand) is placed. It's obvious really, but the hand goes up and down to line the bow up with the new string. This really helps precision in Hokum bowing (think Orange Blossom Special chorus). I also found that it helped when playing The Irish Washerwoman.
• I've gone back, from my central chin rest, to one more towards the left of the violin. See the picture below. I found that the center chin rest tends to pull the scroll to the right and puts pressure on your left hand. I've found that it is good to be able to have a bit of space, at least at times, between your left hand and the neck of the violin.

Hey, what's this thing about Lucifer (aka Satan)? 

When I wake up, I've gotten into the habit of checking my phone to see if Robert has written a post. I don't bother with Peter because I know he'll still be in his fart sack (or Dutch oven, as it is also called). 

Here's a quote from his post because you never know when Rob's posts will disappear.

"Lewis* indicates that Satan brought disease into his world. Yes, the earth is his world. Remember how God banished him to earth. So where you have demonic activity you will find unwellness and physical distress too. Remember how Satan hates us because God promised to put his elect over him? Satan wants us to loose our inheritance which is the kingdom of heaven." (I suspect that 'loose' should be 'lose'.)

Okay, here are a few 'facts' that people have told me about the Christian god over the years.

• God knows everything and he knows what is in the future.
• God can do anything. For example, he could stop a war just like that.
• God made 'Satan' while knowing what would happen if he did. 

Yes, God gave us all free will. In some ways that's a bit of a cop out for him. So, God made his arch rival, fully knowing what the result would be. All he had to think was, "I won't do that!" It becomes obvious that he wanted, or needed, an enemy. A bad guy. Hey, that's not very loving. I've often heard him described as an all loving god. Remember that, if you upset this all loving god, you are likely going to pay forever. Just like poor old Lucifer. Remember that forever is a very long time. All loving god? My foot!

Hey, it's not raining this morning! It's my know-it-all neighbour's birthday today. I think he's 81 - older than Peter! He's the guy who doesn't listen and said to me that violin should be practised in a shed. I often play Happy Birthday for my aging neighbours but I'll give Ben a miss today. Hey, we did give him a present. 

When you are doing lots of violin practice, exercising your fingers, arms and body is important. Breathing exercises are good too. My favourite breathing exercise is called box breathing. You start by breathing in to a count (that can be 1 2 3 4 or whatever you choose), then you hold your breath for the same amount of time, then you breath out to the same count, then you hold for the same count. I find that about four of these, in a row, is enough. 

Well, that's me for this morning.

Have a quick sin, if you feel like it, but nothing too serious.

Sii gentile.

* C. S. Lewis, an author who Robert likes.