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. 🎻

Making the leap from training to music is a bit of a thing. The biggest tip I've been sharing with students lately is: Less is more. Try two or three shakes in one note in one phrase. Just think "back back back" ~ I know that's easier said than done. But the full lock up happens when we think of vibrato as this big continuous thing with an on and off switch. When you think "switch on vibrato go now!" it's easy to freeze. Enjoy it this week. Play around with it! Play lyrics you love and try to add just a touch of vibrato shimmer. Any progress or insight is a win you can build on next time. Next week we can have an official "deload" break week. Sort of a pallet cleanser and rest period before we dive into Bowing Dojo Season here on the Skool group. (Sneak peeks are already up on the Jenny's Daily Lessons Portal for those enrolled. 👀 ) Next week please take a full guilt free violin break if you feel like it. Of course if you're on a different schedule, do your thing. The seasonal announcements are only suggestions. Also please keep in mind that bowing and rhythm have a lot to do with vibrato bridging from training into music. And those Dojos are coming up! More soon, Jenny

Two months of Vibrato Dojo in the books. 🎻✨ No matter how much you’ve been able to follow along, you’ve planted important seeds - awareness, new brain pathway construction underway, and the beginnings of your own vibrato voice. For May (still very much Spring energy 🌱 it's raining hard here in Austin as I type!), we’re shifting into the music side of vibrato. (Spoiler alert - this Summer we will pivot into bow skills!) This is where vibrato stops being an exercise… and starts becoming your one of a kind expression. - How do we use vibrato inside actual music? - When and where do you place it? - How do we not panic when the bowing and rhythm go sideways the moment vibrato enters the chat? We’ll be starting with something fun and intuitive: vocal-inspired playing. Over the weekend, think about this: What songs do you love that are sung with lyrics… that you’d want to play on violin? Or maybe something you already know and play, but want to make more expressive. That’s our entry point for applied vibrato. If you’re a Dojo student: New application videos are dropping in the Jenny's Daily Lessons portal next week 👀 If you’re here for community and base training courtyard exercises: You’re still completely welcome to explore this idea with us here. Try it, share, experiment. And lets be real, the time has been flying especially quickly this Spring, no? For anyone who feels like they want more time with the training reps - you can absolutely continue your vibrato training alongside this month. No rush. This is your timeline. Tell me in the comments some favorite emotional songs with lyrics that could be good on violin. See you there! :)

My favorite part about reading your song brainstorm is how different everyone's taste is. Imagine if we staged a talent show and each of you played your piece. It would be a beautiful eclectic evening with no overlap. This is what makes you a unique artist. Just being you and having your favorite song and following that. If you don't do it, no one else will quite like you would have. So, next step - look for a music sheet, or audio or video you'll use as your main reference. Please drop in the chat below and let me know if you have any questions about what key etc. Some tips on that. For music sheet see if you can find a violin arrangement. That may seem obvious, but it's a short cut for getting into a good key for violin. The original vocal key is often not ideal for violin finger board. Similar tip for audio/video. It can help to find a violin cover and find out what key they chose. I'll follow up again and share some resources and tips for getting the song into your fingers from the audio or sheet, whether or not you read sheet music. For those who had a few picks, try and narrow things down to one for starters. For this project I'd steer you toward something in your own native language, the one most likely to sing in the shower or driving in the car. Looking forward to seeing what you find!

Simple message today. If you're training vibrato this Spring... keep going. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of how to do that effectively and without going crazy. To keep going: spend the first and last 5 minutes of every practice playing reps in the sweet spot of your training process. To not go crazy: add one fun, slightly challenging song to your practice. --- Here’s a bit more on how to keep going on your main goal (vibrato if you’re following the current Dojo focus), and why reps are where the magic happens. Quick reminder of the steps: White Belt: prep for movement Blue Belt: lock in one technique Purple Belt: reps Brown Belt: formed brain pathways Resist the temptation to try vibrato in songs (that's a black belt activity) until brown belt is feeling easy, or keep it to a minimum. Since I’ve been working with adult learners for over a decade, all my best tips have come straight from you. One student said something I love: It helps if I change from thinking- “I’m practicing violin” to “I’m training my brain to play violin.” Ok if I get a little nerdy? When we do reps, we’re building new matter and connections to the cerebellum, the part of the brain responsible for automatic movement. It's crazy - it's a small mini brain looking thing way at the back of our head. (Take a look at the brain diagram attached.) Meanwhile, the parts of the brain we rely on for everyday life like planning, logic, memory... don’t help much here. Which is why this can feel so frustrating. It’s like we’ve spent our whole lives building a beautiful boat… and suddenly we’re dropped on dry land. 🥴 Everything we usually rely on doesn’t help us here. The cool part is, this is exactly why playing violin is so good for the brain, no matter where it leads. One more thought: Remember texting on flip phones with T9? Or pressing the 2 three times to get a C? Then smartphones came along with full touch screen keyboards, and it felt awkward at first. Now look at us go! 😅