I have always wanted to learn the violin. I don't know why but even as a kid, there was just something about that little instrument that pulled me in. But lessons, even when I was little, were too expensive for my family to be able to afford. 

I had to learn music though school with non violin instruments. I'm not complaining, of course. The ukulele and saxophone are instruments that have brought me so many incredible experiences and they're instruments I still play. They gave me enough of a foundation in music to be able to approach learning other instruments on my own. But I never thought that the violin would be one of those instruments. I thought it was difficult enough that one needed a teacher.

Last year, I saw an ad on Facebook for a free fiddle bootcamp.  At first, I ignored it thinking that it was for people who already knew how to play but after seeing the ad a few more times, I looked closer and it said no experience necessary. What?! How was that possible? This is a difficult and complicated instrument, wasn't it? I took a quick peak at Amazon who was selling violins for as low as $130. With just a few days to go, I signed up for the bootcamp and promptly ordered a violin.

I was is a bit of a panic as my latest instrument acquisition was held up somewhere in the delivery ether but eureka - it arrived just a couple of hours before the bootcamp. I opened the case to see my new baby and was horrified. The bridge had popped out and a string had become loose. I freaked out even harder when I discovered that violin tuning pegs are loose and not permanently attached to the instrument. Eventually, I figured it all out. I raised the bow to try my first note and…nothing. Argh! What's wrong now?!

The bootcamp was run by Nova Scotian violinist and fiddler Katherine Moller who, after introducing herself, started off explaining some of the basics of setting up your fiddle for playing. I followed her instructions for the bow but no, I still couldn't get a sound. After another panic attack/freak out, I hopped into the chat and asked why I couldn't get a note. Apparently, I wasn't the only one but the answer was simple - new bows need extensive rosining. And little by little, I start hearing notes. Before I knew it, I also learned a whole scale. Wow, I'm really doing it!

The next day, things were sounding better but I was still struggling. The tune we were learning was Mrs. McLeod's Reel and even though it only uses the A and E strings, it has a lot of notes. If music teaches you anything though, you learn to work though it and persevere. By the end of day three, I could play the whole song. Not well as I couldn't get the hang of slurs and therefore my bowing was off but I could play.

At the time, even online lessons weren't an option for me but I had purchased a beginners method book with my violin and finished that pretty quickly. Thankfully, Katherine had another free workshop - learn a fiddle tune by ear. I am notoriously bad at playing by ear but I tried anyway. After all, I was wrong once about the fiddle and as it turned out, I was wrong to be skeptical this time too because it really wasn't that hard to learn Cock Of The North.

This time, I was able to subscribe to Fiddling For Fun which is Katherine's self guided, song by song method of learning the fiddle and I have been loving it. I thought the violin was going to by another conduit for connecting me to classical music but instead, it's became a gateway instrument to the Celtic world. I didn't take a video on day one but after a year of playing, here's where I'm at now.