Learn Fiddle and Violin with simple steps to success

Ways to check and keep track of your progress in the piece you are working on…

I like to use a version of Edward Kreitman’s list of priorities to test if I am making progress in any piece I am working on. If you feel like you have hit a wall, or have plateaued in a piece you are working on this list may be of some help to get the progress rolling again. Practice seems to only be drudgery when you are playing something over and over for no reason. Always have a reason, if you are out of reasons, stop practicing and go do something else for a while. Come back to it later, when an idea of how to practice a spot pops into your head and you get inspired to try that spot in a different way.

The list of priorities,

1. Posture stays strong and relaxed throughout the entire piece, including violin and bow hold

2. There is a balanced tone being produced throughout the entire piece

3. Intonation is perfect, shifting is perfect- the only sliding going on is intentional

4. Musicality has been added into the piece, character development and phrasing

5. You know the notes and bowings, and have memorized the piece completely

Number 5 is probably the one you should accomplish first. Once the piece is memorized, the music is helpful to look at again for reference. It’s the time to ask yourself questions such as “Where was that crescendo?”, “What’s that note again?”, “Ah, that motive happens at measure x and at measure y, but an octave higher..”, and of course, “What is the orchestra doing at this point in the piece?” It is basically learning the piece all over again. I like to think of it as learning in layers, in a spiral shape. We circle around the piece many times, but each time we reach a new depth of understanding and artistry.

As you play your piece, take some time to notice how your body is handling it. I pulled a muscle in my hand once that took literally months to heal because I wasn’t paying attention to my body when I was practicing. An exercise that I do when I am paying attention to my body, that has helped me tremendously whenever I practice Unaccompanied Bach is to block a 3 or 4 finger chord, or double-stop, and then add vibrato. I add vibrato to make sure my hand is completely relaxed. If my fingers move out of place when I add vibrato, then I know my fingers are too rigid and not sure enough of themselves, if they stay in place and my sound magnifies because all my fingers are on the appropriate pitches, then I know I am on point. Then I take the vibrato away because with Bach, vibrato is supposed to be used only as a form of ornamentation, not to be put on every note like you are supposed to with romantic period composers, but I digress… so this is a helpful hint that is applicable for list numbers 1-5. In one simple exercise I am working on my posture, my tone, my intonation, I am learning the notes more thoroughly and having initial thoughts about the musicality that I will add later on.

When creating perfect intonation on the violin, look for “ringing tones” first and start making them ring as well as they can. I like to pick out one specific “ringing tone”- just as a reminder, the ringing tones on the violin are any notes that are the same as the open strings, so for us they are E, A, D, G… I like to pick out one specific ringing tone and check on it everywhere in the piece I am working on, and everything related to it, shifting to it, shifting away from it, is my first finger in the right position for the next note, why was it out of tune, was the last time that I played that note out of tune? Intonation has a sort of slippery slope quality to it, our ear is trained for finding pitches with “relative pitch” as opposed to “perfect pitch.” And by slippery slope I mean if one note is slightly off, the next ones are sure to follow until you are way in the middle of nowhere without a map. Like Tony Robbins says (and I am paraphrasing), “If you are way off, at some point, you were only off by a millimeter. If you fix the angle in the beginning, then you’ll get to where you want to go.”

The next and last step is my favorite! Here we get to character development, musicality, the addition of sensitive emotional expression and nuance. Now that all the nitty gritty work has been done, it is time to figure out what the composer’s intentions were, what they were feeling or trying to express with this piece. Right now I am dusting off Tzigane by Ravel and I am having such fun with it! There are so many ways to interpret the first couple of pages. Is the lady in the painting psychotic? Is she a she? Is she mad, tired- resigned to some sort of “fate”, all of the above? I personally have found that if I make all my pauses and rests completely silent, the effect is tremendous, and even sounds dangerous, and wild. This came from many questions about what I would refer to as “the myth of the gypsy.” I won’t say this piece is Romani in nature, because Ravel was a middle class bourgeoise writing and playing with exoticism, and it takes from themes that Paganini and Listz were playing around with themselves. I let my imagination run wild and develop whatever theme that comes to mind that day. My suggestion for this step is learn about what the composer was going through at the time. Were they an Absinthe drinker? Were they in love or out of love? Is it an early work or a later work in their career? Who were they influenced by? So many questions, but I tell you curiosity and experimentation are cures for drudgery!

So the next time you find yourself bored and floundering at the thought of what to do next, consider this list for inspiration towards getting the practice juices flowing!