pinky fingers sounds like a pickpocket pianist from the jazz age

[solarbird]

Apparently whether you can be a great violinist resides in large part in your left pinky finger. I mean, it’s the kind of thing that makes more sense once you read it, but who knew? I wonder how many serious violinists and fiddlers can’t do that. I’ve always had a large amount of “yeah? go fuck yourself” to “you can’t do that,” so I wonder whether

Comments

[foibos]

Huh. I guess the traditional Mandan tribe didn't have many great violinists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandan#Religion, next to last paragraph.

;)

[solarbird]

Certainly fewer of the men, anyway. Unless they could play left-handed.

[skellington1]

Oh, pish posh

[skellington1]

Oh, and I'm right behind you on the rote-memory enhancement. I've always sucked at that part; one of the wonderful things about being in the grown-up world instead of school is that you're allowed to *look shit up*.

And I have the same problem with 'too good an accent' with speakers of Japanese -- less because I have a great ear for accents (it's okay, but not great) but because I lived with Japanese students for two years and it sunk in. :P

[solarbird]

Heh, yeah. Exposure helps too. :D

[stickmaker]

Psh... It's all in the jaw. If your jawbone doesn't resonate well, no violin will sound good. :-^)

[solarbird]

Sounds like a good way to clear the sinuses, too.

[lyonesse]

bah. i suspect this is nurture being interpreted as nature. i can do both of those tasks reasonably well, but i started playing violin at age two (and stopped at fourteen).

[solarbird]

I rather suspect that too. Still, it'd be a thing to try to work on earlier, rather than later. Particularly if you can make it a game, somehow.