Out of interest, how long do people actually practice for and the frequency of their practice. I aim for at least 15 mins a day ( some days do slip past but I work shifts and it’s easily done especially when I do days and come home knackered) , but I’ve noticed of late that my left hand starts to cramp up now, reducing practice time ( might have something to do with new hand position for attempting vibrato). This is for my own curiosity to know if I need to make more practice/playing time. Thank you for reading

I put "Open Mic" in quotes because we can just post videos here like we did for St Paddy's- But how about a little Christmas theme to cool off our July? I always say Summer is actually the best time to start if you want to polish your tunes by Christmas. Feel free to share sheet music or ideas here. Pull your ugly sweater, red sparkle dress, or Santa hat out of storage. Then on July 31 I'll make a post where you can upload your "performance" Work in progress videos are absolutely welcome. This hang out is always about progress and not perfection. You have three weeks! Have a great weekend. [Sleigh bell sounds], Jenny

Not sure if anyone who's a beginner has experienced this ,but, on Monday I added the metronome to my daily lessons for the first time on 2 other beginner violin syllabi that I study out of (Mel Bay and one other online) and it brought out "the worst" in me. My bowing & intonation went totally haywire (and I practice my "long bow" every day!). Step 1: Learn the form (piece). Step 2: concentrate on bowlng. Looks like it's going to be the Bowing DoJo class for me this summer.Thank God it's available! Just as a side note if the founding fathers and pioneers of this country who studied violin as a hobby (Thomas Jefferson,Davy Crockett, et al) had access to this online method they'd have been elated (totally geeked). I don't think that's hyperbole either.

If anyone has a patriotic tune or a snippet of one, feel free to post it here as a comment over the weekend.

Before we move on to Bowing Dojo next week, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate some of the amazing progress happening in this community. One story that stood out this spring was Graham's. What makes this especially inspiring is that much of the practice happened while deployed overseas with the Royal Air Force. Long shifts, limited time, air raid alarms going off and plenty of reasons to put violin on the back burner. Instead, he picked one skill, showed up consistently, and trusted the process. The result is in the video below. Nicely done, Graham. You should be proud. 👏 Vibrato Dojo may be wrapping up, but Bowing Dojo begins next week. If you've ever felt like your bow arm has a mind of its own, you're going to enjoy what's coming next. 😎 We've already discovered new vocabulary words like perpendicularity and shock-absorbery-ness. Are there any other bow issues or questions you have? We will soon be talking about all of it. Best, Jenny P.S. If Vibrato Dojo helped you make progress this spring, I'd love to see it. Feel free to post a before-and-after clip, progress video, or even just share one 'aha' or thing that's improved since we started. I'm putting together a community compilation and would love to include as many of your comments and videos as possible. Remember: in violin, small progress is big progress. When you focus on one thing at a time, even tiny improvements are more likely to stick - and much easier to build on in the future. 🎻