Serious Business

Practicing the violin is serious business. How have I been so shortsighted all through college?
I realized with some horror that I cannot play scales in tune. Sure, they are "in tune" but they aren't perfect. And if a musician can't play scales perfectly, there isn't much hope for them.

My biggest regret in college is that I didn't pay attention to what Mrs. Heard told me. I never corrected the mistakes she pointed out. And she told me over and over again.

Practicing for me was all about learning the notes and shaping the music. I was gifted with solid, basic technique but I never worked on it, except for figuring out how to relieve tension.

Leopold Auer said, "Young students - in spite of all the advice lavished upon them - do not generally realize the importance which attaches to the manner in which they work, and the influence their mode of practicing is bound to have upon their future... Yet the main essential is for him to cultivate the habit of close self-observation, and above all to accustom himself to direct and control his efforts. For it is this mental labour which is the true source of all progress."

This is a status from one of my high school teachers (Quinn is her son):
"Every once in a while I ask Quinn about music lessons. Tonight he told me that he already knew how to play the violin because he thought about it real hard in his noggan and figured out how to play the violin. Who knew it was so easy?"

I laughed of course, but really, practicing has a lot more to do with your brain than your fingers.

I am excited about this year, with my potential for growth. I will be asking Professor Teal and Mrs. Heard lots of questions that I should have been asking over the last four years. Better late than never.

Sevcik will be my main etude guide, with liberal amounts of Kreutzer and others. I should buy another copy of Galamian's book, Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching, and I plan to read Auer's Violin Playing As I Teach It as well as The Inner Game of Tennis, which I will borrow from Lindsey.

My practice schedule is as follows:
4 hours minimum every day except Sundays (1 hour).
My big goal, hour wise, is to put in 400 hours by December 1.
I am currently 32.5 hours behind, but will start working on the deficit today.
I also plan to practice rhythms and ear training / sight singing a little bit every day.
After I study all the German I need to and read all that I want, MAYBE I'll do some music history studying. Get to know Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert at the very least.

Being a good, well-educated musician is a lot of work.