Playing 1st Violin While Being Note Illiterate
I am Dyslexic, which plays a huge role in how I learn. Most Dyslexics are visual learners and have to sometimes relearn a topic in a way that makes the most sense to them. In my personal experience, learning differently from my peers opened my eyes to see that everyone has a different learning curve. It doesn’t matter how you learn something, what matters is if you can bring the right result. For the rest of my life, I will have to strategize how I learn new topics, which brings me to my story of playing 1st violin in High School.
Playing Violin Without Reading Notes
I played piano and violin when growing up, but I could never read notes off music sheets. For over ten years I tried to learn notes, but could not figure it out, I am just not wired in that way. What I could do is visualize where the notes would be on the piano or violin and be able to play a piece in that way. If someone quizzed me and said “what note are you playing?”, I would not be able to answer, but I would be at least 90% sure that I was playing the right note. Weird, right? I am no Mozart, but I did manage to work my way up to playing 1st violin in my high school’s small orchestra group. For those who don’t know how this works, there are three different types of violinists, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st. 1st violinists are the most advanced out of this grouping. How I managed to get there without being able to read notes, I have no idea. It goes to show that you can overcome many challenges with persistence and hard work.
Amazing Success Stories
In history, people have accomplished the unthinkable. Here are three success stories where people have pushed through a roadblock in their life and became famous for it.
Stevie Wonder: Stevie Wonder is a famous musician, most popular during the 1970s who was born blind. Stevie is well known for songs such as “Isn’t She Lovely”, “Sir Duke”, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”, and many more. Stevie Wonder can also play nine different instruments, but he is most known for piano.
Bethany Hamilton: Bethany Hamilton has devoted her life to surfing. At the age of 13 a shark bit off her left arm. Only a month later she got back on her surfboard and worked towards recovery and within two years won first place at the Explorer Women’s Division of the NSSA National Championships.
King George VI: King George VI had a stammering problem since he was a child. Later on in his life with a lot of work with his speech therapist, he gave one of the most influential speeches in the U.K.
Finding Your Passion: Don’t Do Stuff You Hate
You will not be great at everything. Actually, you’ll suck at a lot of things. There will come a time that you realize you lack a gift in something that seems pretty simple to your peers. How you respond to recognizing that you don’t have a gift in a particular area is vital. Before you jump to conclusions and have a pity party because your life seems like it’s falling apart, ask yourself this “what am I going to do about this weakness?” The answer to this question may be to practice and work hard to get better at what you suck at and turn it into a strength. On the other end, the answer may mean that you simply don’t enjoy what you are learning and dread trying to make it better. Which means that you may need to look into putting your time toward something else. Make sure you give this weakness your best shot, don’t give up after an hour of practicing to make it better.
Blocking Out the Haters
People can be awful. Some people will push you down once they find your weakness. Regardless of what anyone says, it’s up to you to filter the good and the bad. Have a positive outlook on every situation and put your best foot forward. Remember, so many successful people like Stevie Wonder, Bethany Hamilton, or King George VI did not get to where they are/were in life easily. Sometimes you have to face the hardest parts in life before you reap in the benefits.
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