Let's play "Irish Washer Woman" Violin Tutorial

St. Patrick's Day is approaching. I used to play in an Celtic band for a few years and have traveled to many Celtic Festivals and Folk festival in the U.S. It was great to see many people loving the Celtic music and gathering around, playing, singing and dancing. This season always brings me back the fun memory.

In the last blog post, I posted the Irish bow exercise as an intro to learn this Irish jig.

Here is the part 2 of 2 video for "Irish Washer Woman", covering the melody part. 

At the end, you can play with me with a loop backing track that I made.

Have fun!

 

 

 

How to Play Super Mario 3D World Bowser on Violin

 One of my students is working on this song and here is my play-along tutorial. Have fun!

Five ways to practice "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" variation

Five (+) ways to practice "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". You can warmup with this song for any technical aspect you're working on and make up your own variation.

 1. Yummy yummy cup cakes rhythm 

2. Play on only E & G strings 

3. Long bow with vibrato 

4. Double-stops 

5. Improvise with the chord tones. 

 

 

3 ways to care for violin in dry season

 【NEW VIDEO】

For this dry season, here are 3 ways to care for violin.

[written version]

 

I had a question from my student about caring for her violin in winter.

The violin likes the humidity in between 40 to 60%

Not too dry, not too humid.

I highly recommend checking your hygrometer regularly.

My room gets very dry in winter and I need to provide more humidity.

There are three easy ways I can share in this video.

1. Use a humidifier. 

 Make sure the violin doesn’t get wet from the steam.

2. Use a dampit.

 Moisten the sponge inside a dampit. Pat dry it well.

 Put it inside one of the F holes on the violin.

3. Use a humidifier in your case.

    Fill up the water, make sure the lid is tight. Put it in your case.

I have heard from a luthier that a humid environment is often considered to be very bad for violin, but actually dryness is even more dangerous and it could cause crack and seam opening and sorts.

And these repairs can be costly. 

Let’s give your violin some love by providing a nice care in winter and I’m sure your violin will love you back!

Happy playing!