>> I did say I wasn't much good in the first place. ;-)
>
> No, you lamented how after years of practice, you weren't any good.  2
> years starting at age 9 doesn't constitute "years of practice". :P

When did I say that?

The violin is a very hard instrument to play. I /know/ I was never that 
great at it, and I didn't expect to be. Something this hard takes a 
lifetime to master.

>> As you presumably know, the characteristic sound of the violin comes
>> from playing with vibrato - which is absurdly difficult. They don't
>> teach you how to do that until you're already a really good player.
>
> Again, not something you learn at age 9.  I think my lessons started
> including vibrato in middle school.
>
> At age 9, it's "absurdly difficult" because you don't generally have the
> necessary motor control at that age.

It looks pretty difficult for an adult to do too. Not that I've actually 
tried...

>> I did find some page on the Internet which shows you how to hold the
>> violin itself and the bow. And then it says "already, bring on the
>> Paganini!" As if anybody is going to be able to play Paganini after
>> reading a few web pages...
>
> And if you believe that .... well, I cannot stop you from believing such
> nonsense.

Clearly my sarcasm is not biting enough. :-P

> As much as you might like to believe it, there's absolutely NO WAY you're
> going to be playing Paganini after 2 years of instruction.  Not on the
> violin, not on the piano, not on the guitar.

I don't expect to /ever/ be playing Paganini - and I'm not sure how I 
gave the impression that I think otherwise...

> Given what you've said about your financial situation, it's not likely
> you'll be able to afford a violin that has good tonal qualities.

> A violin that doesn't sound like crap costs a little bit of money.

I'm fairly sure even a genuine Stradivarius would sound awful in my 
hands. But hey, it's not like I'm intending to join a concert orchestra. 
If I can get to the point where I can play a tune and have it sound 
reasonable, that'll do for me.

>> Even when I was being taught by professionals, I always hated the
>> E-string. That thing is /basically/ a piece of cheese wire. That's what
>> it is, you're pressing a cheese wire into your fingertips. Ouch!>_<
>
> You get used to it after a while.  But I'd argue that you weren't "taught
> by professionals" if you didn't learn how to tune it.

In fairness, I'd imagine they do teach you that a little later on. It's 
just that our music teacher retired, and then music lessons vanished off 
the school timetable. (All the instruments vanished too. Today, that 
school's music lessons consist of kids aimlessly bashing electronic 
keyboards while the teacher tries to make 'em pay attention...)

>> I'm really excited to have a violin in my life again. But everybody else
>> I've told about it has said "urgh, I *hate* violin!" Ho hum. Forever
>> unappreciated, eh? It would be nice to be able to play well, but
>> realistically I doubt I have the time or money to make that a reality.
>> So I'm just going to see how far I can get with it. We'll see what
>> happens after that.
>
> That's the spirit - as much as what I've said above here is somewhat out
> of frustration - you *shouldn't* care what my opinion is.  If you're
> having fun doing it, and aren't expecting a miracle in terms of learning
> speed, have fun with it.

I intend to. So far, I've only found one person who seems excited by 
this, which is a little disappointing. But hey, we'll see how it goes...

>> PS. Ever tried playing flute? That's pretty hard too.
>
> I haven't, but my stepson did for a while, and my wife has a friend who
> is now (AFAIK) playing with the New York Philharmonic.  From what I
> understand, playing flute is like blowing over the top of a soda bottle -
> that's how you get sound out of it.

If you just blow into it, nothing happens. It seems it works on the same 
principle as a pipe organ; you direct a narrow stream of air against a 
hard edge. In a pipe organ (or a recorder), you've got a vent to do that 
for you. With a flute, you have to do this weird contortion of your face 
where you blow downwards, and you need to hit the edge of the air hole. 
It's actually quite easy once you get the knack...

(Making it /sound good/ is probably a whole other matter. But I've only 
got a cheap little bamboo flute. It sounds pleasant enough.)

> My brother played/plays oboe.  And keyboards, but he really loves playing
> the oboe.  If you think flute is hard, you should try a double-reed
> instrument.  I tried making noise just with the reed once, and it was
> extremely difficult.

Ah, the oboe. Another expressive instrument. Yeah, I bet that's hard...

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