Violin Lesson #46

This week was a little bittersweet for me. This week I returned Tina's violin. Tine loaned it to me when the term of the loan violin I started with expired. I used it until I bought Patience. Before returning the violin I had it serviced at Animato. They were very good. I told them I was returning the violin, and that the lady who loaned it to me played it at my wedding.So thank-you Tina for the loan. It has helped me get where I am today. I played for Tina when she came to collect her violin. She said I had learned a lot in the eleven months I have been playing. And for that I thank Laura.

The first order of business for the lesson was the practice diary and the 40-hour challenge. This is actually a good idea because I don't actually know how long I practice. I almost never have a watch or other time-device with me when I practice. I stop when I have finished what I plan to play, or when I get called by a family member. The practice diary also helps me focus on what I have to do for the week, and there is quite a bit. Limiting myself to twenty minutes a day five days a week will be tough.

My G-Major arpeggio needs a little more work and so does the finger push-up exercise. I need to be able to stretch my fingers a little more.

This week I learned to play with the heel of the bow. Many violinists don't like to play with that part of the bow because it can often make a rasping noise. If you play quickly enough and with some control, the rasping noise goes away. I don't understand why a student would not learn to use the whole bow. Speaking of whole bow, this week I failed to practice the whole-bow exercise. It's simple enough so this week I will give it a good shot, especially with what I learned about playing with the heel.

My new piece went okay considering I really only started them on Sunday. Rocking Rowboats was good. I need to watch the dynamics, and make them more distinct. Also, when playing slow one has to use very little bow as well as less pressure. With Heat Haze I can get the correct notes and the timing was good but the sound quality needs work.

I finished off with The Old Fiddler Man. We got the piece to 106 bpm (according to Laura's metronome app). I don't give the starting note enough crunch. I think part of the reason for that is I feel I can't shift to the next string quick enough so I will focus on that this week.

I was going to play through Barrier Reef, but that is a long slow song and time was already up. In any case, Laura did not want to run over time because she is conducting tonight, and I was going back to work to prepare for Korpiklaani.