Was it really that bad?

Today was Torin's first experience with a live violin. I picked two very nice pieces from our "sleep" play list, Massenet's "Meditation" and Brahms "Ave Maria," and downloaded the sheet music online. For some reason I thought Torin might find live music interesting.

Have I mentioned my G peg is seriously tight? Well it is and it's really hard to tune the G string. Torin seemed uncertain, but curious for a moment but in the wahwahwah moment of G string tunage he emitted a piercing WAHHHHH of his own several octaves higher than mine. Having never heard this particular cry before I'm still not sure what it meant ... fear? auditory pain? mortal offense? I immediately put down the violin and picked up the baby. He was quickly calmed and placed back in his spectators seat. Four bars into "Ave Maria" his little face screwed up in a wail preceding grimace. Once more I quickly abandoned the violin in favor of the baby.

C'mon! I'm rusty, but I'm not THAT bad



All right, I thought, lets change tactics. "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" plucked banjo style with backup vocals (mine, ugh) and constant eye contact? Acceptable. "Row Row Row Your Boat" played with the bow was acceptable until I missed a note at which point it became an offense. "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" played with the bow, constant eye contact and a ridiculous smile elicited tentative smiles. I put the instrument at away at this point to end the 5 minute introduction to live music on a happy note.

I suppose I'll just have to skip the tuning and start off with the circus clown method of violin playing for our next session.