Fiddleversary – Six Years of Fiddle (Kinda)
January 15, 2025
This year, it’s hard to write about my fiddlevisersary. The reality is, I’ve fallen off the practice wagon hard sometime since August last year. I was doing really well and being consistent – even when it was hard – until I suddenly wasn’t.
I’m struggling to find time to do all the things I want to do right now as it is. I WANT to practice my fiddle, but I also WANT to do a lot of other things, too. I wrote a blog post about this struggle, and some of the things that I’m trying to do to segment out time for all these things I want to work on.
Some of these things do have an end point to them, so once they’re done, they’re done. It’s just a matter of chipping away at finishing those up, which will open up more time. But I can’t foresee that for many more months.
Fiddle playing is a bullet point on my daily to-do, and I’m trying to fit it in the best I can. However, I know that when time gets pinched and something needs to be dropped, it’s usually fiddle practice.
But a little bit of practice is better than no practice, right? Keeping it on the to-do is better than forgetting it, right? It’s hard to forget, though because my fiddle is now hanging over my new desk, right where I can see it at all times.
So, all that being said, I’m going to do my best, and will try to check in throughout the year as I work to find a way to better fit practice in. I’m going to hold on to the mentality that a little practice here and there, even if not fully consistent, is better than letting it drop entirely.
Oh, and I’ve started keeping my practice log by hand this year. For Christmas, I got a cute little Paperblank journal and a lovely matching pen. I was hoping dedicating an analogue journal to practice would encourage me to pick up the instrument more.
So, there’s that!
As for what I’m practicing, I’ve picked up where I left off with the EEI book, sight reading, and scale exercises. I did drop the harder fiddle tune I was practicing due to lack of time and the fact that I didn’t think I’d be up to making that difficulty jump again so soon. I’ll add to my practice setup as I get back to being more comfortable with practice again.
It is my hope that I’ll be checking in again in a year to say that I stuck with it better, even if it’s less consistent. And that I finally made some progress through the EEI book. I really, really want to see this first book to its end. It’s only taken me 6 years. ☹