Category Practice Notes
Shifting into Third
It’s been a while since I’ve written about my progress on shifting positions. I have continued to work with a book of exercises, so far on third position only, quite slowly. The exercises are designed to help me learn to hear the notes up the fingerboard as I read the music. I’m up to about […]
A Little Movement
I’ve been doing my best to practice vibrato every day, but it’s been very slow going, dare I say frustrating? But both Monday and Tuesday during practice I admit that I was making some progress. Tiny, itty-bitty amounts of progress. The movement is welcome – I’ve needed a little clue that I’m not on a […]
Noticing the Bow
“The bow is the breath of the instrument,” Teacher said to me way back when we started our journey. “Just like with your voice, the breath is all-important.” I didn’t really understand that when I started playing the violin again. So much goes into proper sound production on the instrument that isolating the parts wasn’t […]
Fur Elise
Beethoven died in 1827. Forty years later, Fur Elise was published, resurrected from an 1810 manuscript by Ludwig Nohl, a noted 19th century music scholar. The manuscript from which Nohl worked has been lost, and the provenance of the piece is in dispute, but Wikipedia does not entertain that Beethoven might not have been the […]
Fun Little Pieces
A friend recently gave me two books of violin music; he has stopped playing the violin to focus on the viola. One of the books is scored for piano as well. I’ve started playing a little bit out of the solos book that does not have accompaniment – I have to choose the songs wisely; […]
Working the Canon
I’ve let Canon in D – the ubiquitous Pacabel wedding tune – languish. I got frustrated a few months back with the variation of the theme that is the most interesting and forms the bulk of the arrangement I’m working with, an arrangement I bought and downloaded last spring. I haven’t touched it in a […]
Lesson, Practice, Vibrato, Gavotte
It’s been three weeks since my last lesson; with the new year comes a new lesson day too – I’m changing from Wednesday to Tuesday mornings. The day will work out better for my schedule and it doesn’t seem to matter to Teacher. In fact she often has something late on Tuesday nights, so it […]
Picking Favorites
Of all the songs in my repertoire, the one I play best is the Suzuki Book Two Bouree by Handel. I’m not sure why it comes out better than the rest. While it’s true that I now play it a lot because I like playing pieces that I play well, I’m not sure how it […]
Unexpected Pleasures
I was talking to Michael last night about expectations. Suzuki learners are supposed to listen a lot, so I do. A CD comes with the books, and when I’ve purchased a new one I’ve listened to them quite a bit, to the point that the tunes are familiar and I can hum along with them. […]
The New and the Not-So-New
My new song – the Book Three Becker Gavotte – is quite challenging. I’m getting close to the point where I can play it through, but I’m not there yet. I am not close at all on the memorization. There are some complicated bowing indications, and being in tune is a constant challenge – there’s […]
Ryan Libel 