Violin

Violin has been an ongoing part of my life since I was 6. Therefore, I have committed to the activity for over 10 years. Currently, I have just completed and passed my Grade 10 RCM violin exam. Now I am beginning my ARCT repertoire and plan to continue pursue it after I graduate.

The learning outcomes that I accomplished through this activity involves me increasing my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth, undertaking new challenges, showing perseverance and commitment in their activities and developing new skills. I increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas of growth because I receive feedback from my violin teacher and listen to my own recordings. I am currently aware that my strengths are being able to be rhythmical and colourful in my music; however, my areas for growth involve my intonation. I undertook new challenges by attempting to play Mendelssohn's Concerto in E Minor, one of the hardest concertos ever composed. The concerto demands agile fingers as well as virtuosic technique in order to perform it well. I showed perseverance and commitment to my activity by continuing it for more than 10 years. I developed new skills by practicing at home and learning new pieces.

What I hoped to achieve before approaching the violin was to be able to have an instrument that I would be interested in as I grew older and it is apparent that I have achieved what I hoped for.

Some difficulties I had while playing violin was that fact that I almost had no time to practice when I started the IB Diploma Programme. I overcame this difficulty by participating in the Academy Symphony Orchestra in order to solidify my commitment to violin every week.

What I learned about myself when I play the violin is that I am able to be creative. I am able to extract the emotions out of a piece of music and interpret the feelings in my own way. This lets me be able to be original with the composed piece of music when I play it. I also learnt that I am able to commit to something because I enjoy doing it which taught me a lesson that will benefit me long-term.

The skills and abilities that I have gained from violin include my ability to be precise with my fingers. I am also ambidextrous because I developed skills on both the left and right hand. I also gained perfect pitch from engaging in violin for a long time as well as gained an appreciation for classical music as a genre. Playing the violin enabled me to have an appreciative attitude towards the geniuses who composed these phenomenal works.

I would not do anything differently in terms of playing the violin; however, I will definitely dedicate more time to play the instrument once I have more time after I complete the IB.

I am able to apply my skills from the violin to real life, for example: I am able to apply my dedication and commitment to violin and apply it to my academics and other activities. This natural dedicated attitude I gained from by playing violin enabled me to benefit in other activities.