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.

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!

Maybe your brain will like this format! Take a look at the attached PDF. See what I mean? With familiar lyrics separated line by line - you might find it's much easier to learn and memorize a song. And then play it from your heart. To prepare, activate the part of yourself that finds jigsaw or crossword puzzles fun. It's a very similar feeling, only a tad more rewarding imo. Steps: 1) First find a piece of sheet music and confirm it's in a good violin key. Cheat code for this is look at key signature. If there are three or fewer #'s (sharps) or two or fewer b's (flats) you are probably in a good key. If you see tons of sharps or flats, look for another version with fewer. 2) Tab the sheet music. This is a free tool I offer to help with that: https://www.jennyoconnor.com/violinigma/ 3) Then sit down with a blank page and write the lyrics line by line in a way that feels even and right to you 4) Carry the tab markings from your music sheet over to the lyrics sheet. It may help to have your violin in your lap and pluck a few notes as you hum along to confirm what goes where If you try this, please feel free to share your song cheat sheets here! 🧩 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! :)