#violin progress

it’s been a cold january, maybe made more shocking by how warm november and december were, but i’m going to appreciate the snow while it lasts ! also i got a very cute little tin with a harlequin on it and have successfully pawned the candies off on my coworkers <3

day 2 of re-learning violin after 11ish years

So this weeks lesson was the last one for 3 weeks, and I’m happy to say we both left the lesson in good terms and he was happy with a lot of things regarding my progress. We started off my my scales like every lesson, we started off with B major detache, C major detache in second position, B melodic minor and C melodic minor, scales. My C melodic minor somehow morphed into B melodic minor which my teacher mentioned I need to stay aware while practicing that scale. Other then that he was really happy with the work I’ve put in and said that I only really need to work on refining the tuning of the scales as everything else is there. I had a few issues with B arpeggio sequence it was in tune, but I had a bit of hesitation issues and he didn’t want to add C arpeggio just yet but because he is going away for a few weeks he suggested I add it in once I can play it fluently is the plan to add it in. D chromatic scale was ok but it had its own issues mostly with fingering and shifting because my teacher wants me to shift instead of sliding my finger. With the exercises he got me to play the 2nd position familiarisation exercise and it went well except for the last bar since it’s the same tune as the previous grade but the last grade was 3rd position so I’m still trying to figure it out. since he is leaving for 3 weeks he decided to give me the last 2 exercises to add to my practice which is a chord preparation exercise and a bowing exercise with spiccato. He was pleased with how fast he had introduced the exercises to me because he introduced them pretty slowly for grade 2 and he also said that when I was doing grade 2 the reason why he was so adamant in getting that grade so good so that 3rd grade is easier, which he said he is starting to see the fruits of all that hard work we both did. He then asked me to play Kreutzer 2 and asked if we have started bowing patterns yet? I said no because I couldn’t finish last week, but he did say that once we add the bowing patterns it will get really confusing really fast so I played the study for him and he said afterwards that even though it’s painfully slow I’m glad you adjusted your tuning it shows that you know when your out of tune and that is a positive for me because I know that your ear is getting stronger. He asked to hear Russian fantasy and to his surprise it was really well in tune and he said it’s really starting to sing, and he mentioned that my slide in the cadenza was really good and he loved it and he did suggest that the middle needs to be a little bit faster to make that slide more exciting he said I have a few things to work on like the double stops and just to make it sound more rich at the start. We then had a chat about my concertino in D Major I said I’ve been having issues with it and if it’s possible to put it away and come back to it at a later date? He agreed with me and said that he will get me a new piece to work on that’s a bit easier and in 1st position, it’s called concertino 3 by George Perlman it sounds like fun to play and my teacher wants me to have it at least all learnt by the time he gets back, he wants my Kreutzer at a moderate tempo, and Russian fantasy to also be at a moderate tempo and the double stops a little bit faster.

I made a thing!

This weeks lessons started off with a surprise on the piano stool that I usually put my violin on was my new case (my cat decided to pee in my other new case, and couldn’t get the smell out) so that was a lovely surprise seeing that today. My teacher this morning wanted to know how my new technical exercises were going and they were ok I was playing my scales a bit sharp but he said for having them for a week they’re fine and suggested I use a drone to help my tuning. He added a chromatic scale in D major. He didn’t add any other new technical exercises as he said that they’re fine but the other exercises require some new skills that he will gradually introduce rather then overwhelm me with everything at once. Once the technical stuff was done my teacher asked about my study which I said well it sounded good last night but I don’t know if that’s because I was tired or it was a moment of brilliance but he said well I want to hear it and so I did 1 run through but it sounded a bit fluffy so he asked my to just play louder for more focused sound which I did and it was so much better after that run through my teacher got up off his chair went to his bookcase and walked out and came back with 4 pages, 2 pages are my new study and the other 2 pages are for another date but he wants me to hang onto them for now. He wanted to move onto rondeau which I’ve been having issues with so we did a few minor tweaks to my technique and BAM 💥 fixed it now sounds a lot cleaner and add focused sound then it will be a whole lot better. We finished off my lesson with concertino and it is a mess at the moment but it’s getting better but I still have to work on this for a long while but in saying that I am ready to get it done as I think when I started it, i may have not been ready. I’m ready to now conquer this piece properly.

This weeks lesson started off with scales, B major slurred in 4 and C Melodic minor hooked stroke which had improved since last week which is good. I just have to make the semi quaver a lot smaller but overall he was pretty happy with it. The C arpeggio sequence was a bit unfamiliar and kinda was all over the place and he has asked me to really isolate each line especially the inversion arpeggio sequence. The d chromatic scale was very much improved and asked me to make it more flowing, which was achievable and sounded pretty good. The 2 exercises he asked me to do were diminished 7ths exercise and the chords preparation we made a few tweaks and it was made a lot better. We finished off on the new concertino which he said was boring and I need to inject more of myself into the piece, how the heck do I do that? I guess it will take some time but he said that I know the notes I just have to work on the character but I’m kinda stuck in what to do. He did say there is a lot of good stuff in the piece and only a few rhythmic issues but it’s fixable.

Back to lessons this week, after having a week off, and my teacher asked if he could hear some 3rd position stuff from my 3rd and 5th position book. Let’s just say that he was happy with it but it looked as if I was sightreading it, but from what he heard was really good intonation, but it seemed a bit unfamiliar which is right I haven’t looked at in a while. So he asked me to focus on a couple of pages a week he doesn’t need to hear it all the time but he will ask periodically. I said maybe he should hear it about once a month just so that I’m staying accountable. We moved onto scales which were a disaster and In short I have a first finger and 3rd finger sticker back, which I said to him I’m not happy about it and I feel like I’m going backwards, he responded with “you are far from going backwards, actually you have progressed really well but sometimes it’s ok to go back to basics they’ll come off once your consistently in tune. He decided to give me a new technical exercise which is in 2nd position which is basically the same style of tune as my previous grade 2 3rd position exercise which he got me to play and he was pretty happy with it and he was pleased with the tuning for a first time hearing it. So I guess that’s good. He wanted to hear how I went with Kreutzer 2 which I played the first page and he was pleasently surprised and happy and said I exceeded his expectations which he said “I know that may seem bad but I was worried about how you would go with all the shifting in the middle but you did really well and the positions were actually pretty solidly in tune.” We finished off working on Russian fantasy mainly focusing on the musicality of the piece and making it sound more rich and sound more Russian with loads of slides, he also talked through a few things with the piece that he wants me to do. Overall a good lesson and it’s like I just keep getting better and better.

This weeks lesson started with me going through all the scales that my teacher has given me for grade 3. He was reluctant to add the next key as it was a bit to sharp and wasn’t solid enough for him. He said the reason why I’m not going to show you the next key is because it’s the same spacing finger wise and I want your hand frame to be perfect so that the transition is easier for you. He also said that I need to work my my first finger in first position as it’s to sharp and if it isn’t fixed he will put a first finger sticker back on. This was asked like 6 times during my lesson which the 3rd time he said let’s put that first finger fret on your finger board which I kept saying NO! Yes I have a 3rd finger fret sticker but to be honest it isn’t truely in the right spot an the pitch is actually a bit higher then the sticker which I’m wanting to take off but my teacher seems to think it’s helping I think it’s not. He then asked me to play the B arpeggio sequence which was ok, not bad but not good either. D chromatic scale he said I don’t know why you were so concerned about it because it’s pretty much in tune and good. He added a new technical exercise and it’s a new shifting skill which I have been working on separately but this one is different as the grace note needs to be heard and not be non existent like the other exercise. He asked me how I went with the kreutzer 2 study which I think I did ok it was a bit out of tune so my teacher played with me for tuning which I did well and he was happy with the shifting ect. He asked me to continue working on the intonation finally the last thing we worked on was rondeau. My first run through was clean but didn’t sound good for him he said it’s like I’m playing like I don’t want to make a mistake he asked me to play it again with more focused sound and add a little character into the piece. I think what I did worked because he decided to give me a new piece, this new piece is pretty exciting it’s called Russian fantasy no 2 which it sounds like a fun piece to learn as it has a cadenza. Before he gave me this piece he looked through a book and asked if he has given me a piece which he had so he said oh that’s right, then he smiled and walked away and I said what is that smirk for? He said I didn’t smile and walked out and photo copied the piece for me. He then has a chat to me about my weaknesses I need to work on which for him are intonation and rhythm he said these can be worked on and he will help me but I need to work on it. He gave me a ultimatum he said if my first finger isn’t in tune by next lesson in 2 weeks then I will be getting the first position sticker back on my violin. That’s not going to happen because I’m going to try my hardest to play in tune with using tools that I know will work owing time and he has to be patient with me. I actually think this is more of a muscle memory issue regarding new scales and spaces then it being a ear issue as I can tell when I’m out of tune and fix it just not quick enough for him.