@Paul Coughlin yay glad you like the video. Yes I can’t help myself and sometimes add them anywhere and everywhere :)

@Paul Howes Thanks for asking Paul. Always happy to clarify. And thanks Graham for the speedy answer. Sometimes I notice this violin group has as many acronyms as the military! Sep 25 is the anniversary of Last of the Mohicans movie release in 1992. We celebrate it every year because it made Dougie MacLeans The Gael a bit more widely known, so I then learned about it, and played it at the Renaissance festival. A video of one of those performances brought me to meet many of you, so we’ve made it a silly internal holiday. Still working out the finer details of all the traditions :)

@April Ellis You're so welcome April! Oh I figured as it seemed completely organic, but I did notice the hallmark of a performer to take circumstances and whatever happens and it naturally becomes part of the performance.

@April Ellis And I'll raise my hand as well as recording yourself is a legit challenge! Look at me extending my deadline to Thanksgiving. My hats off to you guys getting it done for the day. Seriously. I'm remembering recording those living room videos with Kelly for YouTube, and sometimes we'd just not get it in one day after so many takes and the thing just starts sounding worse and worse. Gets easier with time and also is just always somewhat of a thing to overcome. Again hats off.

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD! Thank you for kicking off LOTM day/season for us Graham. Great job on this. Your reflective caption is really awesome too. It takes a lot of courage to produce something that you feel isn't perfect, and share anyway, using it as motivation for the future. This is why I always say the violin players I get to work with like you are my biggest inspiration. And this year LOTM day is only the beginning of a whole LOTM season now till Thanksgiving. I'll be working with you and any students who want to, on finding that next LOTM level up by Thanksgiving. So we have time for any refinements you want to make on vibrato. And for dialing in those perfect holiday dishes haha. I have to say though, your vibrato technique is there now. I believe if you watch back to your performance last year you'll see - there's a whole different thing happening with the skill of your left hand now.

@Graham Acres I'll work on my fresh version for the LOTM season and share by Thanksgiving. I'll share a little teaser next week of what my own personal level up will be.

I’ve played viola a little bit. I considered getting one just for fun and something different. I also tried a 5 string teacher instrument which is essentially a violin and viola in one. I tried a few from Terra Nova violins. It was fun and something different, but ended up feeling for me like the sound wasn’t deep enough to be really different so I decided just to stick with violin. I would recommend Terra Nova for a good trusted shop if you have time to call them and chat with them and get some suggestions. They can be slow, especially when busy in their small in person shop. So be ready to call them and bug em, squeaky wheel gets the grease kind of thing. If you want something easy to order, quick shipping and trusted online source, but maybe a little less bespoke, then Fiddlershop.com has been a good source for some of my students too.

@Douglas Kooienga I think I know what you're asking so I'll explain because the answer is yes and no. Bottom line is you can play all your violin tunes on it and they will sound good. The difference is since it's bigger your fingers will be slightly further apart to reach the similar note relationships. This is probably why you were advised to wait and get pitch in line first. I generally don't agree with cautions to wait on fun things for adults learning as hobby, because my opinion is that the best practice strategy is the one that's fun and that you actually want to do. If having a new viola makes you sit down and tinker, then I feel the benefits outweigh any set back of learning two slightly different finger positions. The process of listening to your notes and adjusting is the same, so your ear and intonation and instincts will continue to improve on both instruments in my opinion. You can't tune it exactly like a violin because the string sizes are different and need to be tuned close to the intended note. But here's the really cool thing. The viola is already supposed to be tuned very similar to violin. A viola is like having your G, D, and A string of your violin, but then instead of having E above, you have a low C string below. So it's C, G, D, A. Again that G, D, and A are tuned just like your violin. AND the C below is the same relationship to the other strings. So you can tune it like a viola AND play it like a violin. Two ways to play it like your violin. Play anything without the E string on the G, D, A and it will be exactly the same. OR. (and this is where it gets a little weird but still works) You can pretend your viola is a G, D, A E after tuning it correctly. Things will sound just as good because the relationship of the strings is the same. You will not actually be playing the same key or notes as what you are thinking. So it will all fall apart if you try to play with a track or guitar player in the old key. But for playing by yourself, you can tune it like a viola, play it like a violin, reach a tad further for the notes, and be loving life. :)

Yes, great example April to get out there and play with people. I’m remembering a couple open mics where I would first perform in San Antonio. This one seems to have brought you on as their resident fiddler! Lucky them :)

@April Ellis haha great story!!