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Fiddling with life and learning with the occasional dad joke thrown in...  

 

Long Distance Fiddling

New Year’s resolutions often ignite a spark of excitement and motivation. But as the weeks pass, life takes over, and we find ourselves swept up in daily routines. At the start of the year, I challenged you to set dream, short-term, and process goals. Dream goals are the big, inspiring visions you hope to achieve. … Continued

Balance Practice and Play | Fiddlosophy #5

During your sessions, find a balance between practice and play. I suggest spending roughly three quarters of your time engaged in focused deliberate practice, and then the rest of your time engaged in play. I talk a lot about Deliberate Practice on FiddleHed.. Chunking Going slow Spaced repetition Ear-training Deliberate Practice lays the foundation for … Continued

How To Meditate With Music

In this lesson, you’ll learn to play with ease using the FiddleHed Music Meditation process. Opening Questions: Do you feel tension in your body while playing? (Left-hand death grip, hunched shoulders) Hard to focus due to wandering thoughts? Introduction: If yes, this lesson will help. You’ll learn to play with ease using the FiddleHed Music … Continued

Anyone Can Learn Music | Fiddlosophy Episode #4

Anyone Can Learn Music. Period. Realize that if you really want it, then you can do it. A lot of people tell themselves, “I don’t have talent. I’m too old. I don’t have the right gear. I don’t have the right look.” None of those thoughts are true. They’re just stories that wound up in … Continued

Slow And Fast Learning

It’s hard at first At first learning something new is slow and challenging. You’re building a network of neural connections. Like going to the gym, it can be painful and frustrating. I’ve been learning the Chop bowing. Every day I practice, and initially, it feels like I’m not improving at all. But then, something clicks—it … Continued

Ashokan Farewell | Call-and-response Fiddle Lesson

Let’s learn and practice Ashokan Farewell with call-and-response. This is a great way to develop your ear which will help you learn tunes more easily as well as play in jam sessions.  Learning steps First off, I have a full tutorial for the tune here. I’ll play a little Chunk, and then leave you … Continued

Super Cool Fiddle Sounds

Overview When I was a kid practicing violin, I’d sit in my room and make weird sounds like this…My Mom would yell at me from the other room, “Is that what you’re supposed to be doing?” No! I was supposed to be practicing classical pieces like Sarabande. Anyway, in this video, I’m going to do … Continued

Mini-Scale Fiddle Warmups {Short}

Overview In this lesson I’ll show you four “mini-scale” warmups to help you coordinate the hands, mind and ears. As you’ll see in the lesson, these can be adapted to practice whatever you need to practice, regardless of your skill level. There’s a lot of creative power in scales. If you tap into that, then … Continued

Mini-Scale Fiddle Warmups

Overview  Scales don’t have to be torture. In fact, a lot of my students devote whole practice sessions to scales because they know how to have fun with them. Here are some mini-scale warmups you can do with simple four and five note scales. They’ll help you coordinate the hands, mind and ears. Once you … Continued