We have some new faces here - and a few familiar ones too - so let’s make this our official intro spot. If you haven’t introduced yourself yet (or if it’s been a while), please jump in and share: ~Where you’re playing from ~One piece that made you wanna learn violin ~One thing you’re into besides violin Brand new? Returning after years away? Grinding nonstop? Either way, pull up a chair. (Photos welcome but no pressure!)

St Paddy's came up quick this year! How about a virtual jam session and sheet music swap? Feel free to drop your Irish videos or sheet music in the comments of this thread. I know I have several gems I can dig up over the weekend and share with you all.... Irish fiddle style is what first got me into this crazy instrument we all love. Sláinte

Okay… I’ve been quietly building something. First, thank you for all the honest posts lately about what you’re working on and where you feel stuck. The path from intermediate to advanced has some very real challenges, and I’m super into taking that on with you. So this spring, we’re trying something new. It’s called Violin Dojo. Instead of everyone floating in different directions - and instead of you having to constantly decide how to fit everything into your practice - we’ll move through a shared seasonal focus together. Not to compete. Not to be intense. Just to have our heads in the same game, while leaving space for whatever songs and things are most calling to you on your individual hot violinist journey at the same time. Spoiler alert - our first focus will be Vibrato. The real goal? To feel less alone in your practice. To build some friendships here. And yes… to gain some serious skill along the way. More next week. 🎻 Meanwhile tell me in the comments. What fun projects or things are calling your name this spring? Violin or otherwise. For me: Violin: New Dojo videos and visual guides for advancing students Not violin: Repotting my poor neglected plants that I may have saved from the freeze, but definitely cut it a little too close. 😬

I need your help planning activities for this year! I’m going to make 3 posts with 3 separate Qs for you guys. Let’s face it- there’s always some new mountain to climb on violin. That’s the beauty of it! (And can also be frustrating at times. 😅) So first I’d love to hear a little about what you overcame in 2025. Did you try anything new or meet any milestones large or small? If you’d like to do this exercise and give yourself some credit, please list those out and send over to me as a comment on this post.

What would be your words of wisdom or top tips to someone just starting violin or thinking about it? Do you have any secrets or things looking back that helped you keep from getting stuck? I was thinking there are 5 main pillars of adult violin learning. But after a little convo here with @Graham Acres and @April Ellis I think we may have just discovered #6. (The convo resulted in it appearing that while everyone else is playing Holly Jolly Christmas, both pirate and vampire music will be a focus here this December 💪🎻. Go us haha) This is my running list of main “pillars”: 1) Community (yay Skool for making this possible again) 2) Bite sized video lessons 3) Alternate working on techniques and songs 4) Play music you like 5) Asynchronous support (like VideoAsk or Skool so you can get feedback from a teacher and keep progressing without having to synch schedules for a lesson) 6) Do what you want 💥 I guess the new 6 goes together with 4 but it can be expanded to more than just song choice. Violin learning is notoriously rigid because it was designed for children in a high stakes time. Adults can figure out what’s working for them and not, and therefore can have total freedom in the approach. Mix and match systems, have more than one teacher, play a song that’s too hard, disregard any or all of my pillars etc, etc Then if you do get stuck, adjust. It’s not the end of the world. Anyway, now I’m preaching to the choir. Would you add anything to my pillars list?