Hi chaps,

I'm utterly miserable today because I've just had to give up on the violin lessons It's hurting my back far too much for me to play, and I'll probably have to withdraw from doing Grade 4 this term as well. I'm really angry with myself too because I knew it would cause problems if I started playing the violin regularly again, and I knew I'd end up being frustrated and miserable like this, but I did it anyway. I'm so glad that I started playing the oboe because at least I can concentrate on that and playing it can only do me good!

Bah. Sorry for whinging

T xxx

Oh no, you're not whingng at all *hug* I know it must be disappointing, but if you hadn't have tried it, you wouldn't have got the satisfaction of your amazing exam result. Hope you're feeling better than you did (you had to withdraw from concert). *hugs*

Oh Oboebunny, what a disappointment for you.

Having to stop something you've obviously loved doing, and have achieved such a great start with must be awful.

I'm glad you've got your oboe to enjoy, and no-one can take away the fact that you have done so well so far on the violin.

Good luck with the oboe. And perhaps you can play the violin occasionally and enjoy it.

Katyjay

I'm so sorry to hear that you have had to give up your violin playing, oboebunny. You must be gutted. You played beautifully at the Woodford Green concert. Good luck with you oboe playing - you will have some extra time for that now (and your recorder), so your progress will probably speed up on those instruments.

So sorry to hear that, Oboebunny. You must be very disappointed.

I do hope the oboe continues to go well and makes up - at least in part - for the violin.

M xx

Not whinging at all. It must be crushing to have to give up something you really love doing. I'm really sorry to hear it.


Jane

Don't worry, you're not whinging - we all understand that it is a big deal not to be able to play a musical instrument one enjoys playing .

Hope your back pain improves, and maybe you can make it to a concert one day, too .

Could be an opportunity to move on to the cello? No holding or lifting involved there.

Many of the LH & RH skills are transferable: I'd say you could be up to Grade 3 cello in a few months.

The notorious composer Arnold Schoenberg, by training a violinist, claimed he taught himself the cello in a few days...

Very sorry to hear your news. How disappointing and frustrating for you. But at least you have the achievement of having taken it as far as you did. Take very good care of yourself, and enjoy your beautiful oboe playing.

Amber
x

So sorry to hear you have had to give up. I really enjoyed hearing you play the violin at Woodford Green. I hope you go from strength to strength on the oboe.

Funnily enough, when I was at teaching college doing PGCE I had to learn the violin (we had to learn a string/wind/electric guitar plus percussion adn drumkit) but I really couldn't play it at all even after a year - as a pianist first and foremost I could never get my left wrist in the correct position for playing and I was left in absolute agony whenever I tried so I never practised. I wasn't allowed to try the cello as I'd never done a stringed instrument before anyway, but from what I could see the angle of the left wrist for cello was different and probably would have been less physically streesful for me.......so maybe as Storini said you could maybe try that instead? Just a thought ......

Oh dear. So sorry to hear that. You were doing so well and played really well.

*hugs*

PS I think the idea of cello is really good.

Hi oboebunny

If you wanted to have a bash, just to see whether it was physically comfy to play the cello, I have my old one knocking about here, which I'd be happy to let you have. It's been very poorly set up (particularly the bridge is too high) so you'd need to have that addressed by a luthier. It's just a cheap Chinese one. But just to try out - rather than to play with any seriousness, as you'd probably want fairly quickly to upgrade - well, you'd be welcome to it if you wanted it. Let me know.


Regards
Jane

You are all so kind, thank you so much for your replies, they have really helped me feel a bit better. I will be able to play the violin here and there as I have always done, but playing regularly enough to progress isn't possible, so I'll just enjoy what I can do.

Meerkat - that is a fantastically kind offer of you. I would love to try the cello, and if I could borrow your old one to try that would be brilliant! I'll PM you

Thank you again everyone, you really are a fantastic lot.

Toni xx

Toni, I'm SO sorry to hear that. You must be gutted. Especially after you have done so well and when you play so beautifully already.

And no way in the world does this count as moaning.

I really hope you find the cello better & at least you can continue to dabble on the violin.

*hugs*

Look after yourself.

S xxx

I found it a pretty easy swap from violin to cello... i found that the tone was much harder to get right on the violin so when you switch to the cello it sounds much better alot quicker.

If you want any tips about going from violin to cello do ask... maybe we can do a cello duet at the next concert... maybee leicester... if your going
/me makes mental not to send off the forms

pinkoi
xx

I'd love to hear you two play together, the cello sounds like a good idea oboebunny

Send the forms anyway, Pinkoi! You can tell me later if there's something to add.

If you have a back problem as you say, you do need to take particular care to acquire a correct posture when learning the cello. A number of cellists have problems with lower back pain. Check out my comments in this thread: http://forums.abrsm.org/index.php?showtopic=13095 . A good teacher is pretty essential I would think in this case.

Hehe, there's not much I can do about my posture - I've had all my vertebrae fused together into one long lump. There are only 2 right at the bottom that can move, so I cannot slouch even if I wanted to!

Pinkoi, that's brilliant, thanks!! I doubt I'd ever pick the cello up as fast as you have though!! If you can find a duet with a really easy simple part and a harder part then that would be great I'm definitely planning on coming to Leicester, seeing as I'll have to miss the forthcoming concert (have hospital appointments next week too, so even with your offer of a lift I wouldn't be able to make it).

Look forward to hearing how you get on with cello, Toni