Recording Your Practice Series I: Camera Mount

So, since my lessons in ViolinLab.com are online and Beth is in Austin, Texas, the only way for me to get feedback on my violin playing is through recording my practice at home with the use of a camera.  I had an awesome Sony Cybershot digital camera that I got as a graduation gift from my sisters and mom, but I dropped it in my last practice last year :(.  Thankfully enough, I got a Samsung DVD camcorder that records in both SD cards and mini DVDs, but I had to find out a way how to prop it to get an awesome camera angle.

And after weeks and weeks of thinking, this was what I came up with.


I have to admit that thinking about this mount was far easier than it was to build it.  I am sorely lacking in architectural and design skills and the mount is mediocre at best. However, what it lacks in design is nothing compared to the flexibility it is able to give me when recording my practice. I was able to record my Twinkle Twinkle Variation C, D, & E in our room, and I think I will be recording Go Tell Aunt Rhody in the living room some time this week.

Materials

I used typewriting paper and pencil at first for making the what is described by my daughter as the "blueprint"  of the piece. Of course, I needed a foot-long ruler to measure the dimensions, as well as to help the cutter glide through the illustration board smoothly.  I used a lot of tapes here.  And I mean a lot.  The finished skeleton was so unappealing because of the tapes that I covered it with left-over wrapper from Christmas.

Hey, why not? It's already Augusts, so let's get started with the holidays already!