Holiday Concerts, Finals Week, and Violin Cookies, Oh My!

My holiday concert was a week ago and it went great! We ended with a bang... by playing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" last. And with a couple electric violins, mind you! We were going to have an electric cello as well but something went wrong so it couldn't be played, unfortunately. That didn't make the concert any less awesome, though!

I played in yet another holiday concert last Saturday at a nursing home with some of my private teacher's other students. It was so much fun. Stressful in the beginning, but fun. There was so much sheet music to keep track of and everyone was missing at least one piece, but we got it all figured out before we performed. The old folks loved our performance and one old man even asked to hear "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", not knowing that I just played that for my holiday concert last Tuesday! We really brightened up their day and got them in a joyful, holiday mood, so that made us all happy that we could that for them. I hope I can do that again some time!

At last, it is the week before winter break. But what comes with that is, you guessed it, finals. Starting tomorrow, my life will be a living hell, blazing with perpetual studying and inopportune sleep deprivation. Tomorrow I have to have my project for Drawing 2 finished and turned in (you could say the project's our final in that class). However, I pretty much just started on it.

It's crunch time.

Second of all, my Spanish 4 final is tomorrow and I'll have to find time to study for that along with getting my project done in time somehow. Then Thursday is my IB English final and Biology 2 final, and finally Friday I just have an Algebra 2 final. No final in American Government since I passed a required test and no final in Symphony since we'll be sight reading music for contest. (Speaking of which, my private teacher wants me to play a solo and a duet for contest. I'm currently sight reading Bach's A Minor Concerto for my solo.) It will definitely be a hectic week, but once it's over it'll be Christmas time and I'll be able to relax and enjoy the upcoming snow (let's hope!).

This past weekend I baked some violin-shaped cookies to give to my private teacher on Wednesday for a Christmas gift, along with a little violin pin. I thought the cookies turned out really cute. Here they are!

What do you think? :) I know there's only 3 strings... I didn't have room. But that doesn't take away from the cuteness, now does it!

My Top YouTube Violinists of the Moment

YouTube is filled with tons of amazing violinists and a lot of them are very creative with their playing. Jason Yang, for example, plays electric violin (as well as acoustic violin and many other instruments) and makes covers of popular songs, manipulating his videos so that it sounds like there are several people playing at once when it's just him! He does this by filming himself playing each part and then combining all of them together into a sort of video collage. Not only does he do this, but in some of his videos he uses a loop pedal to play several violin parts at one time. Madonna actually discovered his videos and invited him to go on tour with her as her violinist! You should definitely check out his videos. :)
www.youtube.com/jasonyangviolin


Another great violinist is Lindsey Stirling. She's possibly the most popular violinist on YouTube with over 140 million views! Like Jason Yang, she makes covers of popular songs as well as forming songs into medleys, such as "Lord of the Rings Medley". Her music videos include ethereal scenery as backdrops and her magnificent dancing, which she somehow manages to do while playing violin at the same time! She definitely raises the bar for violinists everywhere. Go watch her videos!
www.youtube.com/lindseystomp

Violin Tour- 4th Violin

I know what you're thinking... How many violins does this girl need? Well this one's different!

It's electric!

My friend, Erica, had gotten an electric violin for Christmas a few years back and I played it occasionally but obviously wanted one of my own since they're so much fun. So I asked my mom for an electric violin for Christmas last year and that's what I got!

I also got an amp that has a lot of presets on it to make my violin sound like an electric guitar and much more. It's pretty awesome. :)

Erica and I eventually want to play in public somewhere, just for fun and not necessarily for money. It'd be interesting to see other people's reactions... We might even be filmed! All we need to do is find a place that allows street musicians-- a project for another day!