Auburn NY Violin

Start doing what you love to do now!

It's time to reveal what was in the huge box that arrived on Monday all the way from Ohio in the USA.... 18 months ago, when Oona was 4 years old, we attended ...a violin workshop with our son, Oona's big brother. He'd already been playing for over a year, and I've played since I was a little girl, so Oona was absolutely desperate to join in. She took a brush and a pen from my handbag and she put the hairbrush up on her shoulder and played along on that brush with her pen bow for six whole hours. I don't know if it's true that the violin is really the hardest instrument to learn. I've heard a lot of people say that. I do know that it is certainly a very difficult task to learn to play a violin, and if you have a child with a physical disability who wants to play the violin, this adds another hefty layer of extreme! But of course, this is Oona, who has never been afraid of anything. So I thought about the way I hold my violin and what the major difficulties would be for Oona, and how these could be alleviated. I decided that the biggest challenge would be the use of the left hand fingers on the fingerboard. The effort of holding up the violin with her chin was so enormous for her, that to then relax the muscles of her hand and fingers enough to be functional was really impossible. Her right arm and hand would also need to be able to draw the bow over the strings, and would need to be able to hold the bow with enough flexibility to allow some movement in the wrist to direct the bow. I outined these significant problems in an email to a charity I found online called May We Help, and we waited. It was not long till I received an email from a teacher called Mr Leeper at Milford Engineering, a high school in Ohio USA. His students had seen Oona's request for help, and they decided to answer her call, designing a brand new product especially for her, with funding from The Makino Foundation. It was an incredible, amazing act of kindness from a group of young people we had never met, and we were so excited about working with them. The fact that this would be an international collaboration just made it even more special. We showed Oona where Ohio was on the map, and we had several Skype calls with the students and their teacher to talk about her needs and the way her wheelchair worked. The students decided to produce something to hold Oona's 1/10th size violin for her, reducing the strain on her left arm to allow her fingers to remain soft and functional for playing notes. They would also create a smaller, lightweight version of the Bow Buddy, to help her with her bow hand. The students then contacted Hoggi, the German manufacturers of Oona's little red wheelchair (the one we use at home) to get precise measurements of Oona's chair. The idea was to connect the violin to the handle of the wheelchair, with enough flexibility to allow her to position it correctly, both now and when she grows. Covid 19 arrived, and of course it slowed things down a little, but the diligent students continued to work on the design and manufacture of Oona's violin holder. In the meantime, Oona became even more determined to play since we discovered the wonderful Twoset Violin on youtube and her brother was making really good progress with the extra time he had to practice over lockdown. So, just to make things even more International, we found a teacher based in Italy, the wonderful Francesca Raimondi of La Musica è Gioia, who has experience teaching very young children and children with disabilities, and in fact Covid 19 had helped us here, because Francesca had taken her music studio online. So Oona started lessons on Zoom, working on her right hand which controls the bow, and leaving the left hand on the body of the violin. A couple of weeks ago we were really excited when an email arrived with a link to an instruction manual and very professional video that showed us exactly how to fit the violin arm. It was on its way and looked very promising! Only two allen keys would secure the holder or quickly remove it when not in use, and one of the students had even designed an add on to attach the necessary parts to the back of the holder itself, so we can never lose them. Oona was so excited to get started on Monday night. We set it up. It fit perfectly. Also in the big box was an absolutely beautiful new violin, a very generous gift to Oona from Ohio's Antonio Violin which is ready for her to grow into, and will also fit the holder. On Tuesday after school Oona had her next violin lesson, and that very evening Francesca started to work on Oona's left hand fingers. Already she has been able to play the notes, she feels completely comfortable, and what's even more fantastic is how discreet the violin holder is. When you see her playing from the front, you can't even tell there is something helping her hold the instrument. It is a really great achievement to have designed something for Oona that works so well. It will be used every single day, and I'm very confident that with the help of this product, Oona now has every chance to develop her violin skills. To the wonderful students who worked on this project, who are now graduates and have gone on to other places, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You really have made Oona's dream come true. She can now play with her family, and I have no doubt whatsoever that next year she will also be taking part in the music workshop alongside her big brother, holding her own violin, and playing more and more exciting tunes. This will be because of you. We want to wish you all the best in the world as you go on in your studies. Some photographs of Oona's first 'left hand' lesson and the violin holder and bow hand positioner are below, and a video of her practising the exercise Francesca gave her to start using her left hand is in the comments. Her hand at the neck of the violin is now soft and able to place the fingers one by one. It's a joy to see.

https://www.timesonline.com//nice-to-be-nice-/6101054002/

KU Viola Studio welcomes the Professor of Viola at the Michigan State University, Yuri Gandelsman, in an online viola masterclass on Saturday, November 7th fro...m 12 to 4 pm. This is a great opportunity for our students to work with a world-class musician! Everyone is welcome to observe the masterclass either online or in person at Murphy 118. Zoom Meeting ID: 989 8637 5160 Passcode: 180474

Still excited about these free monthly violin playins, this time led by *two* youth volunteers in our Community Service Program! Suzuki Violin book 1 playin: ...Tomorrow, Nov 2, 5:30pm Pacific Standard Time Book 2 playin: Nov. 2, 6pm PST Check out tomorrow's songlist at https://www.cyosc.org/play-in-songlist Sign up at https://www.cyosc.org/free-programs.html

https://youtu.be/EYqdc43VHe4

Kara (age 11) and James (age 6) performing Five Little Pumpkins arr. Jennifer Sova Happy Halloween!

https://youtu.be/U_nTwzPEUko

Check out our Virtual Halloween Recital, Scary Scores! There are 4 parts! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6pU6l3eSC0&t=42s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v30J...1vakPBk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wagCYYvilbI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDUsTrLa7ow&t=32s See more

Halloween is this Saturday! What’s your costume inspo this year? Don’t forget - join your RPO for Halloween @ Home, a family-friendly program on Halloween Day. The perfect treat for your ghosts and goblins!

https://youtu.be/cE93212UjYY

https://youtu.be/dR2QTkdyJhM

https://youtu.be/f_dlqKI0T30

https://youtu.be/rcdyqMVcmas