Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter! Thank you for being interested in what I have to share!
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On Saturday, August 12, Iβm going to be at a βMeet the Local Authorβ event in Wichita, Kansas. There will be over 100 authors there! I just received a box of my book, βMere Creativity: And also some Circus Skillsβ - itβs so much fun to see my books. I love them!
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Itβs been so much fun to be re-learning violin. My violin was made by a family friend. He lived catty-corner behind my grandparents. My dad and his brothers used to shovel snow off his walkway when they were teens. We knew he was a fantastic woodworker - heβd refinished furniture and built furniture for my family for decades.
After he died in his 90s, our family got a phone call that he had made several violins. My parents drove me over there and we were able to buy me one of them. My private teacher taught me how to make it sound good. My luthier friend, Korinthia Kline, says that wood knows how to be a tree; it has to be taught to be a violin. My private teacher taught me what to do in order to teach it to be a violin. I spent lots of time just playing notes in tune, and loudly, to get my violin to learn to sing and hum. I love it.
Almost exactly 2 years ago, I got the f-holes of my violin tattooed on one of my arms. It was to remind me to practice. Practicing violin had fallen off my radar since the early 2000s. It took a while to get back into it, but Iβm almost practicing every day now. I love hearing the music I choose, the way I choose to play it again! Friends and folks who are watching my videos are mentioning that Iβm so much better now than I was when I started back up about 3 months ago. Itβs so nice to hear the validation that Iβm getting better.
I am enjoying taking violin lessons with my teacher at Senseney Music in Wichita. I told him this week: βI want to sound like YOU!β He looked at me and said, βyou DO sound like me!β That was so amazing, to hear this feedback. I am loving the positive feedback about my playing. My parents supported me practicing and taking private lessons for so long - both violin and piano and even viola lessons for a while. But I donβt remember feedback of them saying they thought I played well. Looking back, as a 50-something now, I see my dad at least enjoyed hearing me play.
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I remember the day I started to learn George Gershwinβs βRhapsody in Blueβ on piano. There is a wonderful riff where the pianist runs their fingers up the keyboard to play about 3 octaves of notes in rapid succession, early in the piece of music. I tried it about 7 times or so, the day I started learning that music. My dad was in the kitchen, making his awesome pancakes, from scratch. I loved his wheat pancakes. He ground his own wheat and everything. He had no recipe; he just made it by sight. And they were different every time and were so good.
My dad bolted out of the kitchen and walked up to the piano and looked at the music. Before he even got out of the kitchen all the way, he said, βare you learning βRhapsody in Blue?ββ He was so excited. At that point in my life, Iβd never heard of George Gershwin. I also hadnβt realized, at that point in my life, how much my dad knew music - titles, composers, and what years the songs were recorded. He was an encyclopedia of musical knowledge. He played guitar, banjo, harmonica, alto saxophone, clarinet, and learned piano in his later years, by ear, too. I was shocked he knew this piece of music! It was cool.
I remember him trying to record me playing it at my recital. And the tape recorder didnβt record for some reason. So he asked me to play it again so he could record it. This was the time I saw him appreciate my music.
My partner now pointed out that my parents must have felt I was worthy of musical knowledge, because they bought me this violin I cherish so much - at a hefty pricetag of the day - $2,000. At that point in time, it might have bought a car, I think he told me. I had never thought of it that way. They also bought me a grand piano to learn on. An antique, upright grand piano. A very tall piano with a lead base and ivory keys. I loved that piano. I remember pretending I was performing for Scott Joplin when I learned Scott Joplin songs. (I love Ragtime music!)
Anyway, these days finds me learning how to take my improving violin skills and start playing my electric violin and learning all the language of the amplifier I just bought. I bought a NuX practice amp - the Mighty Air. Itβs quite versatile. Iβm having so much fun trying out new settings and seeing what happens!
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I have gone on in this newsletter much more than I intended to. I guess when I get on the topic of writing about playing music, I write a lot!
I will leave the other things I wanted to write about for the next newsletter:
A new Book I am trying to write
A book I donβt talk about much that needs me to write more chapters!
A book tour?
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Would you please share this newsletter with your friends? I would sincerely appreciate it! Thank you!
With best wishes for a nice August to everyone,
- Jodi Rose Crump