The First Song

I'm learning my first official song for the violin (if you don't count 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' or 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'). Only a month into practice, my teacher handed me sheet music for Camptown Races. I've never read music before. This is a test of my abilities- a real test! Even though my wrist often finds a home underneath the neck of violin and I can't seem transition from one string to the next without some serious squeakage or a noticeable pause in playing, I am actually having fun. My goal is to learn this song well enough to play it for someone other than my teacher in another month. So far, the only time that my playing sounds great is when I practice open strings (no fingers) or when I play along with my teacher and her playing covers up my squeaking. She also put tape markers on the neck for me to hit the right notes but they keep falling off due to the heat and my sticky fingers. Now she wants me to learn to find the spots without help from the tape! I'm trying to accept that it's okay to be pushed beyond my boundaries a bit. Just so long as she doesn't suggest a formal recital for a good long year...