The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step....

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

This is a new experience for me, and one that in a meta way could actually have taken the place of the subject of the blog... acht forward planning is a glorious thing.

It's July 2021, and because the last year hasn't been hectic enough what with a global pandemic, a divorce, a couple of hospital stays and a close family member's diagnosis, treatment and subsequent remission from cancer, I thought that it was time for me to head back to uni. I love learning and study. A robust discussion and intellectual hoohah is one of my favourite passtimes and the course that I'm engaging in is incredibly relevant to a large aspect of my current role that I'm currently developing. In happy coincidence a few people from the last course I was on are also joining this programme of study, so that really is good news. Buuuuuuuuut as a single mum of a child with additional needs and a demanding job I am not time rich.

With all that preamble done, and my excuses ready, it's time to get down to the purpose of this blog. The course I am joining is Becoming a Teacher Educator, supporting practitioners in their CLPL and designing CLPL that is as effective as possible. One of the aspects of the course that we engage in is based on the work of Garbett (2011) where the author, Dawn, learned to horse ride so that she could understand the experiences of the teacher education students she was working with. As part of engaging with the course, we have to learn something new, and I have opted to learn the fiddle.

My mum's partner restores fiddles and he gave me a beautiful 1890s fiddle that belonged to his late wife. It's a beautiful instrument and obviously comes with a legacy, so adds to my determination to do something with it.

I can read music, but I haven't ever played a bowed instrument. This Sunday, I went over to get a scratch lesson in the basics and to pick the instrument up.

Fiddle playing is HARD. There are multiple things to think about all at the same time and it is very...analogue. There is no marker where you should put your fingers to alter the notes, and the noise that the bow makes if you don't pull it properly across the strings is painful. I am also not good at not being good at something. My inner self-chat is very critical and I become frustrated quickly.

I've decided that I'm going to do 15/20 mins per day, and I'm starting with scales.

Today was my first practice day. I managed a D scale, eventually. It's scratchy and doesn't sound nice, but there we are, it's a start....