This is your spot to log what you're working on, whenever you practise. No pressure to post daily, just whenever you've had a session and want to note it down or share it. It could be something you've been working on, in your own time or with lessons with me. Anyone in here can post! Comment below with: 📅 Date: 🎻 What I worked on: ⏱️ Time practised: 🎉 One win: 🤔 One thing I'm stuck on: Doesn't need to be polished. A quick video or voice note works just as well if you'd rather show than write. I'll be dropping my own practise notes in here too, not just replying to yours. And if you've got a spare minute, leave a comment on someone else's check-in as well. Even just a "nice work" will help us all feel motivated to keep on keeping on! Drop your first check-in below 👇

This is something that comes up a lot for me. Some keys are easier to play, some keys are easier to think about. Often these two things have some correlation when it comes to the violin. I don't like playing in B major, because I find it hard for my brain to compute the notes, especially when there are chords that don't come from the B major scale. The vi7 for example would often be a G#7b9. Playing over this effectively is harder to think about than it is in Bb, because of the amount of sharps involved. However, B major feels pretty nice under the fingers for the violin. I think it's one of the keys where it's harder to think about than it is to actually play. This has been going through my head for years as a jazz violinist. Some people might ask "why spend so much time on a key like this if you hardly ever play tunes in B?" Well, if you want to play with singers, you might have to, for one. They often need tunes in different keys for their range, and it's nice to be ready for that. Secondly, it may not be the case that you'll play in B that often, but there will be moments within tunes where the harmony rests here for a bit. If you aren't comfortable in B at all, your solo will sound disjointed and your playing won't sound consistent. Lastly, learning to play in all keys helps solidify concepts into your brain. If you can take a simple melody through all keys, you really know it, and it's more likely to become part of your musical vocabulary. Otherwise you might just see certain lines as things that work over a certain chord in a certain key. That's fine sometimes, some stuff just works well in certain places on the instrument, but really we should strive for a distinctive sound in our playing that's consistent. It doesn't feel right to sound completely different in every key you play in. Just some thoughts... Is there a key that trips you up the most? Is it because of your thought process, or because of the technical problems you have with it?

I've just created a brand new challenge for anyone wanting to start improvising and playing jazz from scratch. It's based on exactly what we work on in my "Getting Started with Jazz Violin" sessions, broken down into five simple daily steps you can follow at your own pace. You'll find the full free course waiting for you in the Classroom. Everything you need to take your first real steps into jazz is in there. Join the challenge now! Here's how to begin: 1. Comment "READY" below so we know you've accepted, and we can all cheer you on 2. Head to the Classroom and open 5 Days to Improv 3. Start day one today You can’t master jazz in 5 days, but you can learn the ropes and start understanding how jazz musicians think practise and play. Join my free workshop all about the 5 days August 8th https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZnjEKtrbT4SZBPN60qVcHw Comment "READY" and let's go 🎵

Wasn’t this like a challenge last week?