I’m considering a mute.  I can’t imagine such a thing not horribly impacting my tone production, the primary skill I’m working on as a beginner, but at the same time I often struggle with the number of hours in a day.  On weeks when my workload is exceptionally heavy, or in situations like this week when I’m cramming so I can be on vacation for a week, it can be quite difficult to squeeze it all in.

My violin practice sessions are starting to serve a therapeutic/stress management function for me, I’ve noticed – something I hadn’t considered until the past few weeks, so it’s important that I make time for it!

Condo living is a wonderful thing for Michael and me, but my neighbors would not welcome a 7 am beginner violin wake-up call; I know I like my morning quiet time.  So it might be time to buy a mute.  Just when I was thinking I had all the stuff covered.  I read the other day somewhere that Paganini often practiced with a mute because he didn’t want others hearing his practicing; he was highly competitive and concerned that others would imitate his technique and steal his cadenzas and such, so clearly playing with a mute puts me in good company.  While we’re at it, let’s pretend Paganini’s is the reason I need one too.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan