This year the day is just the beginning! Welcome to a season of LOTM, where we can level up your version however you like. Today I'm sharing the five-note roll workshop from inside JDL (Jenny's Daily Lessons) as a tasty little sample of how detailed you can get with practicing this tune inside my program. I realized this morning - this is an entire Five-note-roll Dojo packed into one 7 minute video. That's because I teach this in four steps to get the same signature sound that I learned from Liz Carol. Imagine the four steps as: White belt, Blue belt, Purple belt, Brown!!!! I put four exclamation points there because that is how many I needed to express: This is the _whole key_ to getting whatever level of skill your heart desires on the violin. Master each step and practice with ease in your own personal sweet spot. Easier said than done- to keep it easy and level up gradually. When you are practicing in the most effective way, it will feel a bit slow at times. Trust this! It may seem like learning all of LOTM in this level of detail would take until the sun burns out. But actually it's just about 4-6 weeks if you follow along with the videos in my program one per day. Which is why, whether your in the program or hanging out with us here on the free group, I'm giving us from now to Thanksgiving to SAVOR this tune. It's the one that brought me together with many of you, so it really inspires a festive feeling in my heart. Thank you for being here so we can share a folky violin community online. CHEERS! Jenny PS If you'd like to work directly with me on this, and aren't already in JDL, here's where you can take a peek at the seasonal promo: https://www.jennyoconnor.com/lotm_day_2026/

Okay hot violinists… Last of the Mohicans Day is BACK. 🏹 And since this is our cozy violin living room, you get the heads up first. If you’ve been around here for a while, you may know that we have somehow managed to turn September 25 into an annual violin holiday. (It’s the anniversary of the movie’s release in 1992 which brought Dougie MacLean's The Gael to so many ears. So obviously this required a holiday.) Last year we actually started this Skool group as an LOTM pop-up and built up to the day with little tips, performance challenges, pop corn and general Last of the Mohicans nerdery. (Hence Daniel Day-Lewis still casually bringing his intensity to our little thumbnail photo on the right haha!) But this year, the day is just where we start. After some intensive seasons of skill building with vibrato and bowing, I thought it would be fun to shift gears this fall and actually play an epic piece together. So this year, LOTM season is going all the way through Thanksgiving. We’ll be playing, sharing clips, resurrecting some LOTM goodies and generally nerding out about the tune here in our violin hangout. And for anyone who wants more guidance along the way, I’m also personally taking students through LOTM inside Jenny’s Daily Lessons - for brand new players AND people who’ve played the tune before - including three chances to send me your playing and get targeted personal feedback from me. 🏹 If you’re currently in Jenny’s Daily Lessons: you’re already in. Nothing new to sign up for. If you’re not: no worries whatsoever. You’re still part of LOTM season here. I’ll show you what we’re doing inside JDL too, and if you want to join us for the guided version, you can. I’ve already bumped our two LOTM threads back to the top of the discussion board and updated to 2026. Go take a look at what you played last year - and feel free to post a new one or start any LOTM-related nonsense you can think of over there. For now, consider this your official warning: LOTM season has begun. 🏹

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HYzHGzpamwIt was Itzhak Perlman's birthday today. Here he is ,as a teenager, making (I believe) his first ever TV appearance on the Ed Sullivan show in the late 50's.

What has everyone’s projects been at the minute? Mine has been La Vernia. Jenny has been helping me with this one. Like many people here, when the camera is on recording, it seems tens times as harder , with a ton of pressure seeking perfection. I wanted to do a double run through but for some unknown reason my fingers want to stumble on the last hurdle.Then when I try to do just one run through, it feels like it’s amplified the pressure and I make the same mistakes. So please bare with me as it isn’t my best because this is the 100th take this week of it, but, I needed to post it, so I can move on and next year I will post again with a double run through with little or no mistakes 😁 Thank you for taking the time to listen.

Jhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=KIccasWZkmI&is=laQx7PctUE1gKYiJ