Fiddleosophy Blogs

Perfection: Fiddle as a metaphor 4 life 

Why is it that we don’t expect anyone else, other than ourselves, to be perfect? And why is that we care so much about others not seeing how imperfect we are?

One of the difficult things about learning how to play the fiddle/violin as an adult student is the extreme aversion we have to making any mistakes. I find that my students are constantly slowing down, stopping, tensing up, grimacing, etc. in the vain attempt to avoid screwing up. The result of such attempts is poor tone, bad intonation, multiple mistakes, and frustration bordering on the homicidal desire to smash the fiddle over their teacher’s head.

As children, we had no expectations about being perfect. Why? Because we were perfectly happy to play and explore and to share and to interact. We lose most of that as we come socialized adults. We measure our weaknesses against others’ strengths and always find ourselves wanting. Because we can’t measure up, using the yardstick we create ourselves, we vainly attempt to hide our imperfections with various self-defeating behaviors: Rushing through life to minimize others’ exposure to our imperfections; ignoring weak spots and pretending that they don’t exist; focusing entirely on weak spots to the exclusion of everything else and refusing to let go when they have been dealt with; continually looking backwards to past mistakes, or looking forwards to possible future mistakes, rather than being fully in the present moment; and giving up entirely and becoming depressed, anxious, despondent, angry. We label ourselves as losers if we can’t live up to our idea of perfection.

“Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.” Gustave Flaubert

We are smart, intelligent, clever, and fairly well-educated human beings. We have access to all sorts of tools and techniques to conquer just about anything we can imagine. Why is it that we fall prey to our pursuit of perfection?

“When you’re passionate about something, you want it to be all it can be. But in the endgame of life, I fundamentally believe the key to happiness is letting go of that idea of perfection.” Debra Messing

It is because we believe, much like the greyhounds racing around the track chasing the mechanical rabbit, that we can catch the prize. We may win the race, but we are disappointed because we didn’t get the rabbit.

We need to chase our mechanical rabbits and be able to let go of our need to actually catch it. Chase your dreams, but don’t refuse to accept what you achieve because it doesn’t match in every detail your original dream. Be happy with success and achievement that falls short of what we were originally aiming at, and realize that we are headed in the right direction.

In the pursuit of perfection, the only thing we should expect is a perfect enjoyment of the pursuit.

As Vince Lombardi said,

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

We find that imperfections in others adds to their character and personality. Why should it be any different for ourselves?

For this and other blogs like it, please visit www.fiddlin4you.com/fiddleosophy


Getting out of your Comfort Zone: Fiddle as a metaphor 4 life 

I am listening to a great audiobook called “The Tools”, by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels. I highly recommend it, both audio and print. Great narration, wonderful information.

The first “tool” that they discuss is called the “Reversal of Desire”. In a nutshell, this tool is used when a person gets stuck in their comfort zone, avoiding all pain and discomfort to the detriment of their dreams and goals. Humans have a “gift” of avoiding uncomfortable and/or painful things, but the only way we grow and succeed is to face these things (fears). The key is to take the avoidance desire and turn it around: Actively desire the pain, the discomfort. Mentally yell, “Bring it on!” at the cloud of fear, and then use that fear as energy to move forward. For a better explanation, I highly recommend you read “The Tools” for yourself.

I have seen this tool work in my life and the lives of my students. I remember, way back in the Dark Ages when I was a teenager, being so afflicted by stage fright that I had difficulty performing in front of anyone … especially my teacher. The adrenaline would flow, I would start to shake uncontrollably just at the thought of performing in front of any audience.

One day, while I was taking a lunch break from my job as a salesman at Sears, Roebuck, & Co. in a shopping center located in Salt Lake City, Utah, I had a breakthrough. It was the Christmas holiday season, and the mall was packed with shoppers. For some reason, I was walking through the crowded food court with my violin case in hand. I thought, “Man, it would be really scary to have to play for all these people.” Immediately my blood stream was flooded with adrenaline, and I wanted out of there as fast as possible.

I clearly remember what happened next.

I thought, “This is stupid. You need to face this fear and embrace it once and for all time”. Yeah, right. So I found a bench that wasn’t being used, opened up my violin case, climbed up on the the planter behind the bench, and commenced playing Christmas carols to hundreds of unsuspecting shoppers. For the next 45 minutes I played continually. I felt energized and invigorated, and a feeling akin to spiritual ecstasy.

I realized then that my fear reaction was exactly the same, physically, as the reaction I got when riding the roller coaster at the local theme park. The only difference was my perception of the event. One seemed “scary”, the other “exciting.” From then on, I have relished performing in front of crowds, large or small, and to this day I look forward to that adrenaline rush.

If it hadn’t been for my accidental use of the “Reversal of Desire” tool, I doubt that my life would have been so rich. I am living a life of constant excitement and opportunity due to that one life-changing instance.

Is there something in your life that you are afraid to confront? Would confronting it take you out of your comfort zone? Use the “Reversal of Desire”, mentally scream “Bring it on!” at your fear, and watch your opportunities open before your eyes.

For more blogs like this, please visit www.fiddlin4you.com, your place on the web to learn traditional celtic tunes the Fast, Easy, and Fun way.


Resetting norms: Fiddle as a metaphor 4 life 

Denis the Menace once said, “How come dumb stuff seems so smart when you’re doing it?” A typical sentiment of the young given voice by a comic strip star, it is also something many adults ask themselves.

As we grow from childhood into adults, we learn that we must work hard if we want to succeed. We learn to equate hard work with sweat and concentrated effort. Hard work means sore muscles, right?

Wrong. This perspective is as silly as insisting to the used car salesman that you will pay him $2,000.00 more than he has already quoted you. It’s as inane as you declaring that you will “give 110%”.

You cannot give more than you have. And you would not spend a dollar more than a car is worth. Why, then, do you insist on spending more energy than is necessary to accomplish your goals?

Anybody with any business sense knows that one must find the least expensive way to get the most of want he wants. Otherwise, bankruptcy is in the near future.

This blog isn’t about wasted effort, though. Not really. It is rather about resetting norms.

A “norm” (at least in the context I will use it) is a “normal state or set of behavior patterns that a person relies on automatically”. Success = hard work = sore muscles is a normal pattern that most of us fall in to easily.

I have a fiddle student who, for the past two years, has been struggling to reset this norm. He wants to succeed at being a fiddler, so he works hard. He sweats. He exerts enormous amounts of energy and muscle power. He spends hours practicing, and he is physically tired when he is done. What does he get for all this effort? Sore muscles and enduring frustration.

As I said, we have worked for the past two years at resetting this norm. It is a very difficult thing to do. Think about it: How do you “work” at being relaxed? Nevertheless, this student has made tremendous progress and is now able to actually observe and correct when he is working too hard. He is able to play tunes after a week of practicing the smart and easy way, rather than the usual months of hard “work” he used to put into a tune. And yet, just the mere fact that he still has to think about it means that he has more “work” to do in order for this norm to be reset permanently.

So how do you reset a norm?

First, you have to realize that your norm isn’t working for you. It is not accomplishing for you what you wish it to. In fact, you should realize that your norm is actually sabotaging your efforts to achieve your goals. For example: Most people tell lies (or untruths) in order to get or avoid something. A person who is a habitual liar, however, tells lies even when those lies have the opposite result. They don’t even think about it; it is normal for them to lie. If you are a habitual liar, the first thing you need to do is realize that lying isn’t working for you. In other words, it’s wasted effort.

Second, you need to be constantly vigilant. In the case of my fiddle student, I had him stop every now and then to observe how his body was feeling. Is it tense? Relaxed? Where am I feeling the most tension. Asking questions like these and taking inventory of his behavior at that moment got him in the habit of knowing when he was expending too much effort.

Third, you need to replace your norm with a different state or set of behaviors that WILL get you what you want. This seems harder than it is most times. Take my erstwhile student: Just how does one work hard at not working hard? In addition to vigilance, you need diligence. Stick to it. Stay focused on the goal rather than the behavior.

And finally, you must check in from time to time to see how you are doing. Until you have internalized this new behavior set or state so well that you no longer even think about it, you will need to assure yourself that you are not backsliding into old habits.

Resetting a norm that isn’t working for you isn’t easy. Why? Well, for one thing, you tend to be fighting yourself. Ask yourself, “If I am fighting myself, who wins?” Self-help is always the hardest thing to do, because what is required is a leap of faith … a letting go. You have probably used that norm like a crutch for most of your life. It’s going to be scary to throw it away and trust yourself when you say, “Arise, take up thy bed, and walk” (John 5:8, King James Bible).

It doesn’t take a miracle to reset a norm, just a lot of “hard” work.


Why do I play the fiddle? Fiddle as a metaphor 4 life 

I recently taught an introductory fiddle lesson to a seveteen-year-old young lady. At the end of the lesson, she asked me, “Why do you play the fiddle?”

That’s an interesting question. Why do I do anything? Certainly, I do not play the fiddle because it is an easy road to riches. I do not play the fiddle because my parents forced me to do so, either. And life as a performing musician isn’t something anyone would say is remotely “easy”. So, why do I do it?

The short answer is this: It makes me happy.

There are other reasons, of course, but they all lead back to this one overriding consideration.

I advised this young lady that as she continued in her search for her next fiddle teacher, she keep in mind the fact that playing the fiddle should be fun. I should also have told her that it should be fulfilling on a very personal level, and it should bring her happiness. Her next teacher should help her find these things in her own playing.

I am currently reading a very good book called “The Fire Starter Sessions” by Danielle LaPorte. She makes a great statement: “Knowing how you actually want to feel is the most potent form of clarity that you can have … When you’re clear on how you want to feel, your decision making gets to the heart of the matter … First, get clear on how you want to feel. Then, do stuff that makes you feel that way.”

Are you unhappy with your choices and decisions in your life? Figure out how you want to feel. Make changes in your life that will lead you to feel that way.

As for me, I think I will continue fiddling around for a while longer. And helping other budding musicians find the joy and happiness that I get from sharing my music through the violin.

~ Michael Kelly, fiddler of Sligo Rags (Celtic Bluegrass Fusion)

For more blogs similar to this, please visit www.fiddlin4you.com, your place on the internet to learn Trad Tunes the Fast, Fun, and Easy way.


Flexibility: Fiddle as a metaphor 4 life 

When I was attending the University of Utah, I had the opportunity to study privately with some really wonderful teachers. One of them, Margaret Tyson Klein, introduced me to the teachings of Kato Havas and taught me a lot that has helped me throughout my life since then.

Another teacher I loved and respected was a Russian Jewish emigre from the bad old days who had studied in the very intense conservatories of communist USSR. His name is Mischa Boguslavsky. And I’ll be honest with you: He scared the shit out of me most of the time.

Mischa was the professor in charge of the Honors String Quartet, of which I was a part of the entire time I attended. The Honors String Quartet was (and probably still is) a chamber group that received scholarship money to represent the University in that area of music performance. Mischa actually threatened to make it the Honors String TRIO once if I didn’t buckle down and work on my bow hand. He scared me so much that I FORGOT how to vibrato — literally — for several years afterwards.

Mischa and I had kind of a love-hate relationship after that. He was there to make me into a concert violinist. I was taking a double major with an eye on a BA in Psychology. One day he became so frustrated with me that he said, “Michael, if you do not put music in front of God, country, family … then you will NEVER be a concert violinist!” I just looked at him, smiled, and replied, “That’s quite alright by me, Mr. Boguslavsky. I just want to fiddle around, anyway.”

Believe it or not, after that confrontation, Mr. B and I got along famously. He relaxed quite a bit, and he even opened up about a lot of things.

I thought when I started this whole journey with my violin that I’d end up in some orchestra or chamber group, struggling to make enough money to pay the bills. I’d have dozens of private students, most of whom were probably made to play the violin by their parents. I performed in the orchestra pit of many a ballet, opera, and musical before I realized that I wanted to be on STAGE, not down in the PIT. I still wanted to perform, but just not in the way I had always envisioned.

Since that time, I have performed in bands that played Rock ‘n’ Roll, Country Western, Western Swing, Blues, Jazz, and Bluegrass. I even played fiddle in a Reggae band for a while up in Park City, Utah. Now I perform with Sligo Rags, a Celtic Bluegrass Fusion band I started over 10 years ago after I moved to Southern California. And I’ve enjoyed every single minute of it.

Mom and dad both tried to convince me that (a) I should choose a more lucrative career; and (b) I should pick one thing and stick with it. I used to think that I could and would never play anything but Classical music, and that was a good and proper thing to “stick with.” I have come to realize that flexibility in ones dreams and goals is even more important than the tenacity needed to accomplish them.

A fiddler needs to be flexible in so many different ways. It’s essential, in every movement of the body. But a musician also needs to be flexible in the heart and mind and soul. Then again, the same can be said for every living, breathing human being.

I moved to Southern California to play Country Western music. That was where my heart was. I am now, heart and soul, an Irish musician. I learned to play the violin/fiddle in order to express myself musically in ways that I can’t verbally. Now I sing, write, teach, and record as well as perform on my instrument of choice. My dreams and goals have changed over the years, and I have changed with them.

I’ve met people who, in their quest to succeed in life, deny themselves any opportunities outside of their chosen path. They think of those chances as distractions and impediments. In reality, they are being inflexible with their dreams and goals. They are insisting that the Universe bend to their will. As a result, they close and lock the doors to many opportunities that might help them along their path because they can’t SEE how they would benefit.

I’ve met violin teachers who thought that there is only one way learn how to play the violin. They close their minds and ears to anything that seems different from what they know, and as a result, they stay stuck teaching the same way their entire lives. Even if there is a more efficient, productive method or technique, they turn their collective noses up to it in scorn. The outcome is that many of their students give up the violin BECAUSE IT IS TOO BORING OR STULTIFYING. The students want to create, while the teachers want them to behave.

Parents sometimes fall into this trap, as well. A child wants to BE or DO one thing, but it doesn’t fit into the parent’s idea of who their child is. Who wins this battle?

I have met people of various faiths and religions who tell me that their god answers their prayers. He/She is always there for you if you but listen to the “still small voice.” But I’ve also seen that people with this kind of faith falter when that voice tells them something that doesn’t fit their preconceived idea of what the answer SHOULD be. They are not flexible enough in their minds and opinions to accept what their god is telling them.

One of the ways I have learned to be flexible in my life is to incessantly ask questions. Everyone has the right to ask questions. You may not get answers, but you can always ask. And keep asking. Eventually, you’ll find someone that gives you an answer which resonates in your soul. It might take you down a different path than you had ever imagined, but the journey will be worth it.

My hope for everyone is that they achieve all the happiness and joy that this Universe has in store for them. I also hope that everyone is flexible enough in their hearts, minds, and bodies to receive the gifts awaiting them if they but accept them.

For more thoughts and ideas, and to learn traditional tunes the FAST, EASY, and FUN way, please visit www.fiddlin4you.com.


Stretching: Fiddle as a metaphor 4 life 

I took a trip to the Chiropractor’s office last Friday. I was experiencing back problems that I was not able to remediate on my own.

When I arrived, I did the initial intake questionnaire, spoke with the doctor, and then, dressed in a flimsy gown that opened at the back, I had several X-rays taken of my back.

After the film had developed, the doctor invited me into her office to go over what she had found: Herniated disks in the lower back. Arthritis was in my future, she said. Irreversible, she said.

Then she said that I could prevent the problem from getting worse. “HOW????” My imagination had conjured nightmarish scenarios where I was prevented from ever performing on stage again, so her statement immediately got my attention.

Stretching.

That was her main point. I needed to stretch, constantly, my back muscles in order to alleviate the stresses that were causing the problem to get worse. She showed me a few, then she put me on the table and adjusted my spine. The relief I got from that adjustment, she assured me, was only temporary. If I wanted to remain pain free and mobile, I needed to stretch.

I have a friend online whom I mentioned my back problem to just yesterday. He was very empathetic; he had, after all, had five back surgeries for a similar problem. I almost started to panic when he told me that! Then he said something that hit me like a sledge hammer: “You need to stretch. A lot. Every day, for the rest of your life.” He went on to say that the surgeries seemed to have less effect on him than the stretching did, and he assured me that if I followed my doctor’s “orders” and stretched, I wouldn’t need surgery.

So this morning I am sitting here with a dull ache in my lower back, thinking about stretching. It is not an unfamiliar concept. But it is definitely not my favorite activity.

As a fiddler and a violinist, stretching certain areas of my body is a necessity. The muscles need to be relaxed and flexible in order to allow the fingers, hands, and arms to move quickly and efficiently. Even holding the instrument is an awkward enterprise, with the neck bent to one side. Any tension can cause real discomfort and interfere with your ability to play.

In addition to normal stretching routines to relax the muscles in neck and back, fiddlers practice scales, arpeggios, finger and bowing exercises … hopefully every day of their life. Sometimes, just as in normal stretching, there is a type of pain or discomfort involved. Your bigger muscles are tense, and they need to release. Anybody who has practiced Yoga knows the type of pain I am talking about. It is necessary, but it is fleeting. And when the muscles release, you are then able to do what you need to do without parts of your body fighting you.

As I said, it is not my favorite activity. But it is necessary.

It is also necessary in other aspects of my life. Ever feel like you are stuck in a rut? That there should be more to your life than there is currently? You can stretch yourself in more ways than just physical.

Education, formal or otherwise, is one way we can stretch our minds. Learning anything new, including a musical instrument, allows you grow in different directions. I love to read books, and find that my thought processes are more flexible the more I read.

Reaching out beyond what one knows is a form of stretching. I am relatively new to the whole internet thing, and social networking and marketing were, just a few years ago, a mysterious unknown. And yet I have my own website. My own blog. My own online business. The opportunities I have now are vast, and “stretch out” before me. The possibilities are endless, because I reached beyond what I “knew” and was familiar with and stretched out for more.

One final story. Back in 1998, I was a property owner. With my wife of the time, I owned nine rental properties. One day, my wife asked me to remove a cover from a particular property’s Swamp Cooler. (For you Californios, that’s an “air conditioner” that uses water vapor to cool the house.) Now this house had a very steep pitch to the roof, and instead of normal roof tiles, it had an aluminum treatment. The tennis shoes I was wearing were old, the soles pretty much useless for traction. I went up the ladder, stepped onto the roof, climbed up to the peak … and then my feet slid out from under me. I fell from the roof and landed on my butt and left elbow.

At first I thought I was going to get off scott free. After all, I have quite a bit of cushion on my backside. Then I was ripped with agony from my elbow. After a trip to the Urgent Care Center down the road, I found out that I had shattered the ball of one of my forearm bones. I went to the hospital the next day, and seven bone fragments were removed and the end of the bone shaved smooth.

The surgeon insisted that I have Physical Therapy, as he had bruised the nerves in my arm digging around for the final bone fragment. I would not be able to use my left arm unless I had intensive PT. I didn’t have insurance to cover that expense, and told him so. He shook his head morosely, and then suggested that I try to stretch it as much as physically possible. He didn’t hold any hope of it doing any good without a specialist helping me, but there ya go.

I had made plans to visit Nashville in a month and a half, and had in fact lined up several opportunities to perform. Now, unfortunately, it looked as if I wouldn’t be able to play for 6 to 9 months. If even then.

I won’t bore you with all the gory details, or try to impress you with tales of how, after a good deal of crying, I set out on an impossible quest. Instead, I’ll pick up the story four weeks later, when I went back to the surgeon for a follow-up visit.

“I see you went to a Physical Therapist after all,” said the good doctor, as he manipulated my arm and hand around.

“No,” says I. “Well, you must have. This is an extraordinary improvement, and one I wouldn’t expect even with physical therapy.”

“No,” I insisted, “I can’t afford physical therapy.”

“Then, how?”

“Well, I looked at my right arm, moved it around, and then forced my left arm to move that way. It hurt like hell, and I screamed and cursed a lot, but I kept at it until my left arm and hand could pretty much move like my right. And then I started all over again the next day.”

The surgeon shook his head again, and said, “Impossible. Stretching like that is too painful on your own.”

“Not when you’re motivated.”

Thank you for reading my thoughts on stretching and how it applies not only to the fiddle, but to life as well. For more blogs like this, and to learn traditional fiddle tunes the FAST, EASY, and FUN way, please visit my website: www.fiddlin4you.com.

~ Michael Kelly, fiddler, Sligo Rags (Celtic Bluegrass Fusion)


Balance: Fiddle as a metaphor 4 life 

My favorite violin teacher in college introduced me to the writings and philosophy of Kato Havas, a wonderful concert violinist and teacher from England. Kato Havas wrote a couple of small books which I highly recommend to you, especially “Stage Fright”.

Kato’s philosophy is basically that the violin is an easy instrument to play . . . IF you are balanced and relaxed.

Take a look at the violin. It is a study in balanced tension. The average full sized 4-string violin has 32 pounds per square inch of pressure on the bridge. Supporting that, underneath the Spruce top plate, is a small dowel about a quarter inch in diameter called the Sound Post.

This little piece of wood is wedged between the top and back plates of the violin, and must be shaped to match the interior slope of each plate. It is NOT, as some suppose, glued in place.

The Sound Post, as insignificant as it may appear in its precarious position supporting 32 psi, is considered the “engine” of the instrument. It is what causes the top and back plates of the violin to vibrate at the same rate in complete synchronicity Without it, not only is the instrument in danger of cracking, the violin cannot produce those pleasing tones it is known for.

Now consider the fingers on the string: In order to change the pitch of the string, you must shorten the length of it by placing your finger on it with enough pressure that it touches the fingerboard. Not enough pressure and you get a bad tone. Too much pressure, you’ll get a good tone but handicap your ability to move quickly and accurately.

Now consider the bow. It is essentially balanced between the tip of the thumb coming up under the stick and the tip of the pinkie pressing down on the top of the stick. There is just enough pressure to counterbalance the weight of the bow. The other fingers are wrapped around the stick for security and control, but remain very relaxed. Too much pressure from any part of the bow hand creates an ugly tone.

Finally, there is the violin hold itself. “Hold” in this case is a misnomer. It is really a balancing act. The violin needs to rest comfortably between the jawbone and the collar bone, with just enough pressure to counterbalance the weight of the violin sticking out from your body. Too much pressure does nothing other than create some real physical problems for the violinist/fiddler. Not enough pressure and you risk dropping the instrument.

It takes some getting used to, but when the violin and the bow are balanced properly, there is no weight to speak of . . . and no danger of losing control.

So why, then, do most players have problems with this balance? Why is playing the violin considered to be so difficult?

It’s because we, as human beings, feel like we need to exert a lot of energy and pressure in order to control the instrument. In reality, the more we try to control it, the more likely we are to fail.

In order to succeed, you need to search for the balance. You need to find the sweet spot that gives you the most using the least amount of effort (pressure).

Think about how this can apply in your life outside the realm of music.

Let’s assume you are worrying at a particularly obnoxious problem in your life, and you’re looking for solutions or answers. You try really hard, hitting the problem from every conceivable direction. You spend hours on it, your head aches and your shoulders are tense. Nothing.

You go home that night, play with your kids, get ready for sleep, and just as you’re going to bed, BAM! The answer hits you. Or perhaps it comes to you as you wake up the next morning. But it’s there, seemingly appearing effortlessly out of thin air.

Why did the answer come so easily when you had struggled with it throughout the entire day?

You were exerting too much pressure, expending too much energy on the problem. You were choking your ability to find a solution with all that wasted effort. And you were making yourself hurt, as well. Kind of hard to think when you’ve got a headache.

Balance your energies. Use just enough to get the job done. Anything less, and the results are ugly. Anything more, and at the very least you are wasting your efforts. At the worst, you are handicapping yourself.

Contrary to popular sentiment, you should always look for the easy way to do anything in life. If you are in balance, everything is so much easier.

Please check out my Trad Tune learning website at
www.fiddlin4you.com for more ideas on how to play the fiddle – and live your life, too – the FAST, EASY, and FUN way.

~ Michael Kelly, fiddler, Sligo Rags (Celtic Bluegrass Fusion)


Letting Go: Fiddle as a metaphor 4 life 

Ask any of my current or past students: I have metaphors and analogies for EVERYTHING. Sometimes they don’t make a whole lot of sense, and I’ve hade many eyes roll at me over the years. But most of the time, they get the idea.

One of the hardest things for anyone to do in this life is to LET GO. We love to feel like we’re in control; that if we just work really, really hard, we’ll get a handle on whatever it is we’re struggling with.

In my lessons, I teach that this is anathema to progress. The harder you work at something, the LESS LIKELY you are to achieve your goal.

What?!?

Let me put it this way: Your muscles, and even your brain, need to act and react with lightning speed and extreme dexterity. When you work HARD, your muscles contract, tighten up, and put the brakes on. When you CONCENTRATE, you actually slow down your thought processes so you have enough time to think in conversational language about what you’re focused on. Both efforts lead to failure because you are attempting to SLOW EVERYTHING DOWN THROUGH FORCE.

The more effective way is to LET GO. Allow your body to react in a relaxed, EASY, and balanced manner. It will respond so much faster and with a higher degree of accuracy if you ALLOW it to move.

Don’t concentrate; instead, FOCUS. Refine your attention, hone it to a sharp point, but don’t slow down your thought processes by concentrating. Your brain works a billion times faster than you can speak, and when you concentrate, you are actually slowing down your thoughts to conversational speed. Again, ALLOW your brain to function at peak capacity. It can go forwards, backwards, up, down, in or out, all before you can type WTF? It doesn’t have to make a logical progression; it will get there by any route or all routes, and it will do it faster without you concentrating.

Another thing I counsel my students to let go of is emotion, especially the emotional response we have to mistakes. What we tend to do as humans is say, “Hey, wait a minute! I just screwed up! We’ve got to go back and figure this out, I cannot and will not continue on until this is handled!”

There is a time and a place where it is appropriate to go back and look at one’s mistakes. But here’s the kicker: You screwed up, it’s in the past, and you CANNOT FIX IT. You can work to improve future performance, but you can’t change the past. So LET IT GO. It’s human nature to fixate on our imperfections to the extent that we are “fixed” in place and cannot progress. This frustrates, angers, and depresses us, and those emotions are the glue that keep us fixed in place. Acknowledge the emotions, acknowledge the mistakes, ALLOW them to MOVE through you and then LET THEM GO. MOVE ON.

I have not yet mastered the art of doing this in my own life, but I have found that LETTING GO works EVERY time I apply it. You will find similar techniques in meditation practices around the world.

Check it out for yourself. And please visit my website at www.fiddlin4you.com

~ Michael Kelly


Upcoming and New for the www.fiddlin4you Trad Tune Learning site 

I have big plans for my new Trad Tune Learning site, http://www.fiddlin4you.com!

In addition to the FREE Tune Of The Week, I am going to offer other freebies. Such as mini lessons on how to play Irish ornamentation. Proper practice technique. Scales and modes. These will be a mix of free downloads and links to YouTube videos that I will be making in the very near future.

Also, although this site is primarily an Irish tune site, I will be expanding the repertoire into the American fiddling tradition, taking tunes found in that fabulous source book “The Fiddler’s Fakebook” and giving them the same treatment.

Just with these two ideas, I am guaranteed to be busy for awhile! But I’m always open for suggestions . . . !

Check out www.fiddlin4you.com to see all the latest! And check back often, because I’m always uploading new tunes.

~ Michael Kelly, fiddler, Sligo Rags (Celtic Bluegrass Fusion)


New Trad Tune Website 

For several years I have been gnawing at an idea to start a website. A site that would utilize some of the same techniques I’ve been using over the years to teach my private students.

One technique in particular seems to be effective 100% of the time: Allow the student to play along with the teacher … all the time.

How do you do that when you’re not teaching Bill Gates’ kids? No one wants to pay for 365 violin lessons a year, especially at my rates.

I started tailor-making recordings for my students so they could play along at home and in private. This teaching tool, although a huge investment of my time, paid off wonderful dividends in every instance.

So my dream was to create a website where students around the world could pop on, choose a tune, and then play along with teacher. And I only had to record the tune once. Maximum outreach with minimum effort.

As I said, I grappled with this idea, or dream, for several years. I made several abortive attempts to start it up . . . but where do you begin with something like that? I had never launched a website before, I had absolutely no experience whatsoever. All I had was a dream. And I had the drive.

The most difficult part in the whole process was getting a consistent recording process that I was happy with. I had the tunes. I had the time. I had the will. But I would start recording one way, do several dozen tunes, and then stop for a while. When I came back, I would record in a different manner, with different settings, microphones, cables, etc. I got a different sound. This made me very unhappy, and I re-recorded those dozens of tunes several dozen different times, discarding all my previous efforts.

A big thing about recording is the isolation one needs to produce a good sound. I couldn’t very well issue something for sale that had an airline jet passing through, or a baby crying in the background. Or the neighbors next door fighting again. But I didn’t have the money to get this huge project recorded in a real studio.

Charlie Knoth, a student of mine, mentioned that a new rehearsal studio had opened up right across the way from his business. I looked into it, and I thought perhaps I could find the isolation I needed there. That worked for about a month. Then the drummers showed up. And worse, the bass players with their huge amplifiers. They had the whole Spinal Tap thing going on. They never met a decibel level they didn’t like, as long as it was above 100 db.

So I had to record when these “musicians” weren’t hashing through their stuff and rattling the walls. I’d go into the studio at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and record for 5 or 6 hours. That’s when the Rap musicians would show up. Who would’ve thought that Rap artists even knew what “morning” is?

I had just about given up, and Charlie had moved his base of operations a few blocks north to a larger warehouse. One evening, as I was giving Charlie his lesson in my studio and the bass guitars and drums cranked it up to 11, Charlie offered to build me a studio inside his warehouse. Made to order. I couldn’t believe it. He would charge me what I was paying to rent the studio from hell, and it would be perfect for what I needed. Awesome, I said. Let’s do it!

So on May 1st of 2012 I moved into my new studio digs and began work in earnest. I recorded with a Chinese built ribbon microphone and a used all-in-one recording deck, and the results – to my ears – were amazing! I started the arduous process of editing and uploading the tunes and the sheet music (arranged by yours truly) onto the website and launched it on May 11th.

I had done some research amongst some of my peers years ago to see if my idea had any marketable merit, and the one comment I kept getting (in addition to “awesome” and “why hasn’t anybody done this before?” and “it’s about time!”) was “You need to charge more for this!” Apparently, $4.99 for 9-18 tracks plus a PDF and jpeg of the sheet music seemed, to them, too little.

I disagree. I want musicians to keep coming back and using the site often, and I don’t want them to feel like they have to mortgage their girlfriend’s apartment (is such a thing possible?) to do so. Therefore, each tune, which is organized into an album, is available for $4.99. Period. So what if some tunes are 2 or 3 times longer than standard? It’s one tune for $4.99.

And because I wanted everyone to experience the success of using these recordings, I decided to provide a FREE Tune Of The Week on the home page. You can’t download it, and you won’t get the sheet music for it, but you can hang out on the home page and play the tracks for that tune as often and for as long as you like. Try before you buy, don’tcha know?

Also, when you are looking at the tunes currently available on the STORE page, you can preview every track in order to get a feel for the tune and make sure it is something you want to purchase. And if you click on the album artwork, up pops the sheet music for you to look at. How cool is that?

I have been blown away by the response to the site just in the first few days since I announced on Facebook that it was up. I have hits from people all around the world: Australia, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Great Britain, Canada, and all over the United States. The average time spent on the site is roughly four minutes, so obviously folks are taking the time to listen to the tracks. And yes, I have ways of tracking that particular bit of info.

The only downside to this whole project is the amount of time it takes me to upload the tunes I’ve already recorded onto the site. I have over 50 tunes ready to go, and less than 20 have been uploaded. But hey, it’s happening. I still have to go to work in order to pay the bills, and I still have to make time for rehearsing and recording. And let’s not forget that I have a sweetheart and a beautiful baby girl at home who expect a modicum of my attention as well.

But it has begun. I’ve made the start. People are interested, and I am happy that my dream is coming true. All the other stuff will be taken care of in time.

If you’d like to check out the site for yourself, visit www.fiddlin4you.com. Be sure to let me know what you think!

~ Michael Kelly, fiddler of Sligo Rags (Celtic Bluegrass Fusion)


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