It is quite amazing how quickly a musical skill can diminish or disappear if you don't work at it every day. Learning songs by ear is a bit of a challenge, especially if you are used to reading in musical notation. But after many repetitions, I almost have the wonderful song "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" down on my violin. (Nothing like the joy of figuring out the key when the song doesn't begin on Do.) Nothing like playing in the key of G---with lots of string-crossing.

I have discovered that smooth long notes take just as much control as short staccato ones. The technique is different, of course, but each musical texture is challenging to play nice and cleanly. I thought switching from one instrument to the other would be a breeze because I already read in musical notes for the flute. Playing the violin, I have discovered, is like apple and orange. If anything, flute is much closer to singing, though I'm sure someone out there will disagree with that assessment on some level.