La Violina Vieja De Mi Abuela

Tonight was wonderful. I get to barrow my Grandma Jo's violin for six months. I will not be looking for a violin to bye until then, or maybe I will be able to borrow it for another six months or a year :) She wants to know that I will stick with it and not leave it for another instrument. I am really excited!!! It has two wooden bows--one with horse hair, and the other has nothing, so it will need to be re-haired--and the violin is light brown, the varnish on the top is dull and the bottom is shiny. I like it, it gives it character. I will have to improve my intonation quickly because I will not put any finger tape on to show me where the notes are. That will make it a bit harder to start my songs, but once I get started I generally do okay. I think it will help me improve faster. I love the violin!

Last time I wrote of me playing As The Dear for Sounds of Shasta during the offertory. The Lord was gracious and I was very pleased with it. I have noticed the pianos tend to be tucked in the corners of the churches; this makes it hard to get back there so I can see David's hands on the piano while we play. I had my back to about half the congregation; I will have to work on that. By Gods' grace my hands didn't shake very much, and I was on pitch most of the time. :) That is a huge improvement from when I played Amazing Grace for the Liberty Singers about nine months ago. I need to stand and hold the violin up more while I play; I also need to learn to use the bottom quarter of my bow, which will be hard. I am also trying to learn vibrato. It doesn't look very hard, but I have had a hard time with it. Practica, practica, practica!!!