Category Practice Notes
Getting Right to It
I have to change even more – I’ve written a couple of posts about the way I practice. When I started playing, my strategy was to play all of my songs through, making them all better, then working on the most recent one the most, at the end of my practice session. Well now I’ve […]
Stamina
When I really get into the groove I just want to keep playing, and sometimes I do. Yesterday I went for two hours – the longest yet, I think. But at about the ninety minute mark I start to fall apart. I have less focus, and the physicality of playing the violin starts to get […]
Playing with Accompaniment
Four songs into Book Two and the final piece from Book One is still my obsession. It’s Gavotte, by Gossec – soon Book Two will bring me two more gavottes by two different composers and I’ll have to start distinguishing them, but for now I just have the one. I just looked back on the […]
Morning Person
I’m naturally awake relatively early; one reason I started writing this blog was a desire to be more productive in the mornings before I need to be working. I’ve always done my best writing in the mornings, and as a bonus it gives me something to do while I wait until a socially acceptable time […]
Rhythm Is Gonna Get You
I struggle with rhythm. If there’s one thing Teacher has to continually correct me on (aside from bow hold and left hand position), it’s making notes long enough. I don’t know why, but I always err in the direction of shortening notes. More often than not my mistake is playing an eighth rather than the […]
Feel the Finesse
The violin is all about finesse. Aside from struggles with words and increasingly rare occasions where I actually think about what I want to look like, finesse is not my middle name. I’m more of a bull in a china closet. While I practice a beautiful martial art, on the finesse scale of the martial […]
Bad Habits and Rulers
I love to teach – in teaching most anything, part of the equation is knowing when to give feedback – people can receive only so much; knowing what to say and when is crucial. Knowing when to identify a mistake, for example, and call it out is very important – sometimes the student knows what […]
Finale FF
I’ve not thought much about the playing side of the dramatic ends of pieces composers often provide – thunderous finales that transform musicians into blacksmiths, hammering out several repetitive measures on their various instruments as fiercely as possible in order to completely drown the venue with sound and produce something beautiful. The effects are often […]
Lesson Day
It’s been two weeks since my last lesson, and I’ve had a four day weekend in the meantime as well. We have stayed put all the while, so I’ve managed to get plenty of practice time in. In fact, I feel I’ve had a very productive two weeks with my violin, despite still feeling my […]
Moving On, Yet Stuck
Well I can’t do it anymore – starting with Twinkle Twinkle and working through all my songs leaves me no time to practice my newer songs. Yesterday I spent about 15 minutes warming up with scales and arpeggios and the G Major tunes in Book One that lead up to Gavotte. I then spent about […]
Ryan Libel 