Have you been practicing for hours without actually improving your piece? This step-by-step curriculum and practice plan that will help you to achieve the best results wisely.
I see you over there, violin in hand, playing the piece over and over again , wondering when you’ll start to see progress. It is a struggled to be consistent with your busy schedule so you feel like you have to rush your practice time. Feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information you have to keep in mind, and next session you already forgotten half of the piece because of lack of practice.
This step by step guide helps you to Learn how to practice wisely.
Tip #1 - Practice slowly
It takes time to hear the right height, so practising fast too soon while studying a composition hinders you are learning and will not allow you to hear mistakes well. At the early stage, slow practice let the brain controls all the efforts of the muscles. The more controlled and precise they are, the more quickly the muscles will develop memory. Slow practice also allows the antagonistic muscles to relax. Antagonistic muscles are those that move in opposite directions. By relaxing antagonistic muscles, you reduce tension and avoid potential injury.
Tip #2 - Focus on more challenging bars
The more you focus on what challenges you, the faster you will be able to improve the piece. A "chunk" is simply a set of notes executed by a set of actions. Musical chunks can be anything from a few notes to an entire passage. When practicing, it is essential to drill a small chunk of just a few notes. Practicing in small fragments like this limits the amount of information the muscles must learn at one time. It also helps the brain to focus and concentrate.
"Your muscle memory is your best friend" Giuseppe Etterro
Tip #3 - Avoiding fixing the mistakes
According to studies, for every repetition made to learn a pattern of actions, it takes seven more times the number of repetitions to change it. If, in the course of your practice, you make an error, stop immediately. Review it in your mind and make sure you do not make the same mistake again in the next attempt.
Tip #4 - Use your practice time wisely
Instead of playing the composition for 4 hours, try with warm up techniques first, which not only will help you to move your fingers faster but allows you to practice longer. Using a metronome will improve your speed to slow down difficult passages while keeping the pace consistent. This approach enables us to work through challenging passages without making any mistakes, gradually increasing the speed as we become more familiar with it.
Tip #5 - Use a mirror.
Mirrors are great for giving visual feedback on your technique. As your experience grows, you'll develop a second sense for what 'looks right' when playing the violin, and a quick glance in a mirror can give you instant feedback on whether what you're doing is effective or not.
+ 1 Tip Find the method that works best
There are many great teachers out there, and even more great players to whom we can turn for advice and inspiration. But, in the end, when we practise, we are by ourselves. Ultimately, we teach ourselves to play. Each player needs to find their own “best” method, the approach that works for them and helps them overcome their specific challenges. Therefore, you need to practice and experiment and observe yourself in the process. "The violin in 5ths" method is added support to your daily routine.
Don’t Forget to improve your practice technique.
Be comfortable with your instrument: You can have a very good ear, but play out of tune because you have a bad physical relationship with your instrument. Relax, find the most comfortable position for you and enjoy the music.
Your left hand: An unfit hand is difficult to control so it is very difficult to have good intonation if the muscles of the hand are not in shape.
The stability of your fingers: Professionals recommend placing your fingers at a 45° angle between the fingertip and the first knuckle, so you get a more solid structure.
Listen to your piece: By listening to other people we can easily judge their tuning. However, it is very difficult to listen to our tuning while playing because we are thinking about other things
Record yourself: Don't be embarrassed, recording yourself is a very good way to hear the most imperceptible mistakes. Also, it is good to listen to yourself, you will improve your self-listening skills.
Tone perception: In order to listen objectively we can use a tuner, but we have to do it in an intelligent way. It is not recommended to just use a tuner while you are playing and correct while you play because then you will not learn to listen for yourself.
Harmonic sensitivity: Practice scales and arpeggios accompanied by a long held note every day for five minutes. The held note should be the tonic of the scale. Do this exercise slowly and take the opportunity to correct any mistakes.
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