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

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

Today I'm sharing the intro video, where we dig into why bowing can feel a tad frustrating at times. It's common to have unwanted bow bounce and string noise, even for violinists who have been playing for years. I certainly did! The short version: As adult learners we are excited to spend time learning notes, songs, and finger patterns. This isn't a bad thing and is also important of course. But the bow is where your sound always lives. If your tone feels inconsistent, scratchy, shaky, or harder to control than you'd like, it's often because bowing hasn't been trained as a separate skill. This week I'll be posting the white belt exercises here in Skool so everyone can start building a stronger bow arm. Please watch the intro video below and let me know: What's your biggest bowing challenge right now? 👇 Or if bowing is already easy for you? Tell us your secrets! 👇 First training video drops here tomorrow! Best, Jenny P.S. If you'd like to transform through the entire Summer Bowing Dojo with us, new members can join Jenny's Daily Lessons at 50% off their first month through June 30 with code DOJO50. Sign up today, try it out, cancel anytime :) https://www.jennyoconnor.com/programs/ Drop the program questions you have below and the other members or I will answer. 👇

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

What do you say we take a little break from all the serious training Dojo talk and share some fun inspo over the weekend? Doug's Cajun Fiddle post inspired me to share a video from my fiddle idol, Liz Carol. Please post yours as a comment here or make your own post by selecting "Hot Violinist Hangout" as the category when you post. You may notice that just about everything about her technique is "wrong." But somehow it's clearly working for her!! (Watch her double toe tapping while playing too - that's something we will do later this year in the Rhythm Dojo.) I got to see her play solo like this right in front of me at Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp in the early 2000s when I had not been playing very long. At one point the fiddling was just really cooking up and she was going off on all these improvised runs and she let out this vocal glee sort of laugh rhythm thing. It was really incredible, like once in a lifetime sort of experience. Meanwhile through the camp - I was miserable to be honest. Everybody there played amazing, even the other students sounded a lot like Liz. I was slower than everyone. I swear I was the worst one there. At the time I felt like I didn't learn anything because it was all too fast and I was so far behind where I wanted to be. But looking back, that's where I learned how to do five note rolls Liz's way. And that turned out to be pretty important actually! Those five note rolls are likely the link that allowed me to meet you! I wasn't happy or feeling too good at the time, but I was learning things that changed my whole life. I also bought a CD straight from David Greenburg's suitcase that had some tunes that one day I would learn. (On the E Muzeki, Sindh CD as The Greenburg Medley, if you wanna search on streaming and check out my eventual progress.) Have a great Memorial Day weekend if you're in the states! And a great weekend wherever you are. Memorial Day means Summer is here, which means we can soon put a bookmark in Vibrato and go on to Summer Bow Focus in the Dojo.