Practice

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PRACTICE!!!

Skill to do - comes of doing. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thoughts

You Perform like you practice
Nothing better is going to happen on the stage than happened in the practice room
You are playing for yourself when you practice
but you owe it to the people you perform for to give them the best
You get out of something exactly what you put into it

Penny Game

Choose a short passage
Put 5 pennies on the stand
Every time you play the passage incorrectly a penny is taken away
every time it is correct the penny returns
You must end with the 5 pennies

Metronome

The meteronome is one of your best friends
Use it a lot
Subdivide!
if you have subdivide it so that it really sounds like
This will help to keep the rhythms even

Music Stand

Memorized is best
but if you do use a music stand to perform set it low
use it only as a crutch
remember you are performing for the audience not the music stand
Do not hide behind it

Bow

try using long whole bows and

1. up bow =forte & downbow =piano
2. up bow =piano & downbow =forte
3. try it on a scale

Preplan your bow

think,,, about where and how much

Bow Example by Professor Reed Smith

Beethoven's Romance in F major is a great solo. It can be difficult maintaining the tone quality throughout the really long slurs.

Play a trick on yourself -- practice each run several times restricting yourself to half the bow -- no matter how horrible it sounds. Then allow yourself to play the runs with the whole bow -- it will now sound and feel wonderful -- the "extra" bow will be such a luxury!
I've found that most of my students wait till the end of a long bow to start saving bow. In reality it needs to start at the beginning of the bow, and very often the trick is in planning ahead so that you start the long bow at the extreme end (tip or frog -- heel, as you Brits say!) Make sure you keep a little pressure at the tip of the bow, and watch your sounding point -- most of us tend to veer toward the bridge about halfway through a slow down-bow. String crossings are dangerous. Try not to use any extra motion at the string crossings to avoid bumps or using up extra bow.
Also, plan an alternate bowing and practice it occasionally, just in case you get into the performance and find you're having a "bad bow-arm day." It might not achieve quite the musical effect you want, but changing bow more often can give you more control. I got that suggestion many years ago from no less a performer than Itzhak Perlman (when I played - rather nervously - in a master class for him.)
Finally, plan your bowing so that you have crescendi and diminuendi worked out in each phrase. That way, even if your control isn't perfect, the musical effect will transcend any bowing problems.
used with permission from Professor Elizabeth Reed Smith
Marshall University * Department of Music

Finger Action

Have you thought about the way your fingers behave on the violin fingerboard? They way they drop and lift on and off the strings. Many students lift their fingers too high or bang them into the strings as they return. Over time this can be very harmful.
There are at least two types of finger action required to play musically. Others can be a combination or variation of the two.

Popping, snapping fingers are necessary in some types of passage work

In the winds at war of Vivaldi's Winter there is intense drama.

More flattened fingers with more pad contacting the strings and a softer touch

This Allegretto Ben Moderato section needs more of this touch

Attention needs to be given to how the finger is taken off the string because it determines the quality of the new note.

Goals

Be goal oriented. There should be short term goals and long term goals.
It is easy to get comfortable when you pracice and think "I can play this"
Challenge yourself to move to a good tempo.

Practice Time

Scales
Time to work on new things
Time to work on problems
Time to practice the way you will perform, including what you wear.

You have practiced well now trust yourself and do it

Be kind to yourself. Look for improvement, not perfection.

~ website and graphics © Sheila K. Helser ~
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