Harriette's Violin

The things I wish I knew when I started

[harrietteviolin]

[harrietteviolin]

How to Practice the Violin...

1. Find your best practice time- Make sure its when you are fresh and preferably before any of the stress of the day kicks in! Try waking up, and after breakfast, beginning the day with just a short snippet of practice to warm into the day

2. Pick your practice spot- Where is there the least distractions? Try to avoid taking your phone and laptop in the room if possible and somewhere with good lighting and windows so the space feels spacious but can easily open the windows if too hot or struggling to see the music

3. Bring everything with you- Cup of coffee? Snacks? Pencil? Paper? Metronome? Speakers? So that you won’t be disrupted and getting up and down to fetch things you may need. Try to stay focused and in the room once practice begins to develop your stamina and discipline!

4. Get yourself comfortable- Do you play better with slippers on? Maybe in your pyjamas? Type of chair that isn't too comfortable but good back support? In a shirt that isn't too restrictive or any loud jewellery? Are all things to consider so that your only focus is the violin itself

5. Try not to set a time limit- When you start becoming tired or have achieved what you planned for that particular session then have a break instead of forcing non-productive practice over extended periods of time

6. Warm up- Using techniques specified previously on the Blog but also physically and mentally. Making sure you are fully stretched but your mind is calm also

7. Purpose- Have a plan for what you want to achieve, is there a bar I can’t play? Do I need to correct my tempo? Is my intonation correct? 

8. Problem Solving- Why is this challenging? Does it sound better? Am I in tune? Is my bow even? Is my fingering the best fingering for this passage? Are some examples of reflecting on your own practice to become more independent away from your music lessons

9. Recordings- Personal use at the end of each day to show yourself what has been achieved. Then you can reflect back on progress over months and years to aid with improving your technique and quality.

10. Musicality- is this the best of my sound? Listen to other recordings and compare what you like or dislike about the recording then reflect in your own practice and experiment with different colours/ sounds or styles to see what you think works best

11. Building up Stamina- If you begin to feel pain stop. No pain, no gain, no brain! Each day or week or whatever is comfortable for you, add extra minutes each time to develop strength and to prevent injury

12. Productivity- how much procrastination is happening? how successful is my practice? am I achieving my goals and targets for today? will my teacher be happy with my current rate of progress?

13. Writing down diary- at the end of each practice session, write down what has been achieved and what you want to work on for the following practice sessions to come so that the quality of your progress is of optimum potential

14. Try to end with something light and fun- whether it be the first song you ever played, or some pop arrangement of your favourite song! End positive and happy making you more likely to be less frustrated and pick up the violin some more

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“You’ve got to know what goes on between the notes...” -Jimi Hendrix

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Warming up for Beginners...

1. Long Open String Bows- Listen to quality of the strokes and even tone, focus on the bow being straight and even bow changes between up and down bows

2. Finger Placement- Use a tuner to practice scales at a slow BPM on the metronome and slowly increase speed one the notes are accurate on the tuner

3. Fourth Finger Practice- Try sliding between notes using the 4th finger only and then try using 1 and 4 as a trill, 2 and 4 as a trill and then 3 and 4 playing in quavers, triplets and then semiquavers

4. Slurs- Try slurring a one octave scale on G, D or A with 2 notes to a bow, then 3, 4, 6 then 12 to practice coordination and counting the notes per bow

5. String Crossing- Using a natural arm stroke practice keeping your elbow at a right angle and slowly changing between G-D, D-A, A-E then skipping strings also without and extra accents or swells within the sound

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Guide for Violin Care & Maintenance : A useful guide on maintaining, cleaning, and caring for your instrument. Get tips on how to manage temperature and humidity, fix stiff or slipping pegs and do instrument adjustment and basic bow maintenance ...

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One of the greatest challenges is to know when things are not right...

Itzhak Perlman

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How to prepare for Graded Exam...

1. Know the syllabus- are you preparing for ABRSM or Trinity College London? will you need an accompanist? Can you prepare with the accompanist in advance? Sight-reading, musical knowledge, aural, improvisation? Scales and in what keys or Technical exercises?

2. Practice makes progress! Set up a practice schedule short term and long term with your teacher. Have weekly goals with a schedule for each day dependant on your age and spare time of what should be achieved each day and a long term goal of where you want to be each month leading up to the exam

3. Know how to improve- have mini tests in preparation with grades given to you along the way prior to the exam. This will give you a gauge of how you are progressing and what you need to work on outside of your lessons

4. Aural should not be intimidating! Practice with the CD in the car when you can and listen to lots of mixed genres of music in preparation that you can analyse. What do you notice about expression, structure, context, textures, dynamics, harmony, melody, orchestration, tonality and rhythm?

5. On the day- have a good nights rest and makes sure you are there in plenty of time to warm up and run over your pieces with the accompanist. If you are nervous have coping mechanisms in place such as avoiding caffeine or rescue remedies at hand. 

6. Introduce yourself to the examiner when asked and stay calm, hand over the sheet showing what you will play, what scales and your chosen skills.

7. Check sight-reading if chosen and play through once if possible. Look for dynamics, key, time signature and any ornamentation or tricky runs you might see at first glance. Remember to keep going no matter what happens!

[harrietteviolin]

[harrietteviolin]

Basic equipment...

Here is the list of requirements my pupils start with to aid in their progress of the violin.

1. Violin- Charity shops, music shops or online but if struggling to find one within budget as first violin Stentor is a good starting point

2. Bow- most 3 piece outfit violins will already include one

3. Rosin- Hindersine is a good cheap starting rosin to give your bow hair grip and make a sound on the violin

4. Spare strings- Dominants are cheap and can be purchased online or at most music shops for about £5 per string so easily replaceable if strings break

5. Metronome/ Tuner- most electronic devices such as phones or tablets now have them built in and are reliable 

6. Shoulder rest- for comfort when playing or beginner children may find a bath sponge more comfortable with an elastic band to secure it to the violin

6. Bow Buddy/ Corn Pads- For hand position of the bow hold 

7. Duster- For excess rosin on strings to clean off

8. Music Stand/ Book- I recommend starting with Fiddle Time and Abracadabra for both adult and children pupils 

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How to Choose a Violin

How to Choose a Violin. Part of the series: Violin Lessons. When choosing a violin, consider the purchase or rental price, the sound quality of the instrumen...

When choosing your violin think about the following points:

1. How much money can I/ do I want to spend?

2. Do I like the sound that it makes?

3. How long will it last me?

4. If still growing is it worth renting or using a trade in scheme?

Most of my beginners I recommend using an outfit from Stentor, they don’t devalue in price, most music shops will trade them back in for a bigger size with not much excess and you can guarantee the sound that is produced without much research into the instruments itself. 

[harrietteviolin]

[harrietteviolin]

If I wanted to play the Violin, I had to work. Because anything one wants to do really, and one loves doing, one must do everyday. It should be as easy to the artist and as natural as flying is to a bird. And you can't imagine a bird saying well, I'm tired today, Im not going to fly!

Yehudi Menuhin

[harrietteviolin]

[harrietteviolin]

Choosing the right Violin Teacher for you...

When I first began learning the Violin, I came from a non-musical background. We searched the Yellow Pages and the first teacher that came up locally we was set on. Back then before Google was around or easily able to research into someone it was a bit more difficult to find the best teacher for your needs.

Here is a list of Practical Teaching aspects I wished that my parents and I had thought about!

1. Location- Can you travel? Is it worth the travel for a better teacher?

2. Qualifications- Do you want them to have safe guarding? DBS? Member of a Union? Degree? Teaching Diploma? Or just have a connection with?

3. Recommendation- Have you got proof that the teaching is successful? Will it still be successful to you as who recommended you? Can you do research of your own? Have you had more than one recommendation for this teacher?

4. Availability- Does the teacher only work weekends/weekdays? Does the teacher not work on school holidays? Do they have slots available or is it flexible on a first come first serve basis?

5. Teaching Methods- Suzuki? Alexander Technique? Traditional? Kodaly? Able to adapt to Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic needs? Experience in Special Educational Needs, Can incorporate parts of different teaching styles?

6. Great Performer- They are incredible on stage but are they a good teacher? They might be not so great playing but an excellent teacher at your beginning stage or maybe just the performance being strong will inspire you even if you don’t learn as fast? 

7. Style of Music- Do you have a specific genre in mind? If so do they only teach classical? Able to adapt to cross-genres that interest you? 

8. Affordability- Will you need to pay in advance for a term/year? Do they have a cancellation policy? How far do I book in advance if my lessons aren’t weekly? Can I afford for the foreseeable future this rate each week? What Maintenance/ Repertoire will be needed?