12 General Practice Tips

Golden tips for Success: Ignore at your own peril! Note if n represent your current level then n-1 would represent a piece you can play comfortably and n+1 would be a piece that you would struggle with Always warm up with Tonus (sustained tone or "son fil") ! Exaggerate the two compensating bow curves for straight bowing! Bowing comes first: From open strings to Paganini, you should always make a most ravishing sound! Once you establish the correct bowings and fingerings for a piece, (with the Teacher's help) always stick to them! Passage work: [Mark the difficult passages] and play them at slow, medium and fast speed. If you are pressed for time, learn a couple of passages by heart. Don't just play pieces from start to finish. Don't gloss over your pieces, but learn them well, preferably by heart, and play them to performance standard! Don't move on to level n+1 until you have mastered level n! Never play a difficult piece until you can play easy pieces well! If you did, and end up in trouble, don't then move on to level n+2 (an absurd move, but one I see quite often!) If you just passed Grade n, don't expect to arrive at your next lesson and play a Grade n+1 piece! If you want to do well at Grade n (a distinction), you should be Grade n+1 standard. Never skip grades, nor entire levels, nor key pieces. ie. Don't play a De Briot Concerto before a Viotti Concerto. If you want to consolidate your playing, gain confidence and play with better style, play an n-1 piece! The opposite is also true: If you want your confidence, sound and style to suffer, struggle with an n+1 or even an n+3 piece!

If you want to play a piece in a concert, play a piece of n-1 difficulty well, (rather than a mediocre performance of an n level piece) Play one Corelli Sonata really well, and you can play any another... likewise, play a Mozart concerto well, & you can play them all... etc. Always practise Studies (Etudes) and Concertos; especially those of the French School.

12 Tips for a Good Playing Style

Golden tips for Success: Both Hands / Right hand / Left hand Tempo: Be strict, and never take timing liberties; use a metronome and accompaniment CDs to test your fluency. Slow practice: Practice right hand skills slowly and only gradually increase speed. The left hand can work slowly or suddenly fast! Intonation: Play quietly to hear more. Eliminate vibrato for accuracy of finger placement. Muscle fatigue: Never push your muscles beyond their limitations. Be kind to the violin and it will be kind to you! Right hand: Study your bowhold and use a flexible, yet unforced bowhold with rounded fingers (esp. little finger at heel) Right Hand: "Le Violon c'est L'archet" always know and use the correct part of the bow for a passage... ie. dtach is in the middle Right hand: Practice legato string changing studies, and approach the new string gradually. Learn to change string smoothly. Right hand: Always go to right up to the heel, and play scales and relevant studies using the whole bow. Left Hand: Always use 50% less finger pressure than you are using. Left Hand: Always shift more slowly and more smoothly than you ever thought possible. Left hand: For articulation, you need to lift your fingers with spring; they will fall effortlessly of their own accord (gravity). Left hand: As a general rule, whenever possible, keep fingers down on the fingerboard. (Don't lift 1 & 2 when playing a 3).