Letting people sleep

While the violin is a beautiful sounding instrument, when you are first learning it has a tendency to annoy anyone with in ear shot. This phenomena isn't exclusive to learning the violin, of course. I received many threats of bodily harm while learning the guitar as well. One thing I've gotten that has proven invaluable just for my room mates sanity has been a mute (shown above).

So if living with room mates or if you have close neighbors, a mute is an invaluable thing to have. You can still hear your instrument but it definitely lessons the noise and stops it from projecting into the next building.

I purchased my mute from Amazon.com for a few dollars so they are fairly inexpensive. They have a variety of styles to choose from. Some are made of rubber and some of brass. I can't comment on the effectiveness of the brass ones except to say that I was hesitant to purchase brass because It seemed to me that they could damage the strings I may be completely off base, If anyone has any experience with brass mutes I would love to hear about them. Either comment here or email me directly at fiddleronthe@gmail.com

Maybe in the future I'll weigh the pro's and cons of each.

My mute just slides over the strings and bridge as shown here. Mine can also adjust how much of the sound is muted by how far over the bridge it is place. The bigger the gap between the strings and the mute, the less it will be muted.

The String Quest

Hello my name is Christopher, I am twenty-five and live in Houston, TX. I am also in my seventh week of learning how to play the violin/fiddle.

I decided to begin this blog to chronicle my learning process with this instrument that I've loved listening to my entire life. Having had no formal music training besides elementary grammar school music class and possessing only a passing knowledge of the guitar from my step-father. My expectation is to have many difficulties as I attempt to master this classical instrument. Most people begin learning at a much younger age and I really don't know if my desire to learn in my mid-twenties is that common. I shall persevere though! This is something I've wanted to do for a while and I am now in a position to make it happen.

My quest begin years and years ago, I grew up in a small town of 40,000 people in rural indiana. Thankfully, this town was blessed with a local symphony that wasn't half bad. I was able to see various concerts growing up and get a nice injection of classic culture. My favorite was listening to Vivaldi's Four seasons. The way the symphony brought the imagery to life was amazing.

On the fiddle side of things, my step-father is a local folk guitarist and through his music and the events we went to I got varied exposure to the stylings of bluegrass and celtic folk.

My parents hoping to encourage my interest bought me a beginners violin from muscian's friend. However it sat in its case for a year for lack of an instructor. In this environment I thought it would be simple to start playing. However I had a hard time finding a good teacher that taught private lessons or was willing to start a beginning adult player.

Recently I moved to Houston for various personal reason but my primary focus was to get a fresh start on my life. So, one of the first things I did was search among the local music shops to find a violin instructor. I'm currently staying with my sister in Spring and found a nice local music shop just down the road that provided lessons and now here I am.

My hope with this small space is to primarily help me fully absorb the information and chronicle the achievements I make. Secondly I also hope to entertain and give an insight into my thoughts and maybe serve as an inspiration and encouragement to anyone thinking of picking up an instrument in adult-hood. I will also pass on some information from my lessons and any advice and tips I come across along the way.