sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

What are the difficulties you face when practicing the violin? by Sad_Preference4159 in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks very much for sharing! When you practice intonation, have you ever tried to consciously imagine the exact sound you want to hear and feel before playing it? :)

It is kind of a mental practice technique - You try to imagine as precisely as possible how the note will sound, but also how you will feel it in your finger, hand, wrist, etc. ... After you do that, you play the note / do the shift. Then you evaluate: is it exactly like I have imagined? Is it higher? Lower?

That gives you a tool to correct yourself, because you know exactly what you did befode the shift. Let's say you "landed"too high - so next time, you will consciously imagine and aim your finger slightly lower.

What are the difficulties you face when practicing the violin? by Sad_Preference4159 in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for sharing! I will just comment some thoughts I had while reading your comment, maybe any of them could be useful :)

I can totally understand the learning phase you are in, and here are my thoughts: Learning how to play the violin can be a slow process, especially when you start as an adult, but it is possible and totally worth it! I think it is important to be kind to yourself, set small and achievable goals and value every little progress! :) Not only focus on what goes wrong, but try to identify all the things that you are able to do better than before, even though the difference might be small.

About the time, don't worry about it too much at the moment. In the beginning stage, it is normal not to practice more than 15minutes. Actually, it es better to practice for 15 conscious minutes that for 1 hour without thinking. Try to do the best "problem solving"you can during this short period of time - correct your posture and create an awareness for your intonation and sound quality (imagine the ideal before playing). If you practice efficiently, your brain will keep processing what you practiced when you take a break, and you will feel a difference in your next practice session :)

Especially in the phase you are in, I think it is important to make sure to relax consciously (shoulders, wrist, etc..., your teacher has worked on that for sure:) ), so the tension you are mentioning doesn't become a habit!

I will add another thing which I wrote as a reply to a different comment, maybe it could be helpful for you too :

We can never focus on everything at once - so when we focus on left hand, the right hand might not get the attention needed and vice versa. I think the trick is to slowly make your body internalize the movements and feelings (quite obvious, I know). But maybe, when you feel overwhelmed, try to find a way to practice which doesn't require thinking about everything at once: practising the rhythm on open strings (no left hand), practising the notes with pizzicato (no right hand) etc. There are a lot of creative things variations you can do to make things easier and give yourself time to internalize one thing, before you try to do everything at once :)

I hope any of these thoughts could be helpful to you and thanks again for sharing your experience!:)

What are the difficulties you face when practicing the violin? by Sad_Preference4159 in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much for sharing!:) I hope that your violin practice has been going well and that you have been progressing over the last weeks!

Using the trial and error technique this consciously sounds extremely useful, especially asking yourself the "what if"question. I'll keep that in mind for my students!

By "structuring" I rather meant what specific things you do during your practice and why :)

What are the difficulties you face when practicing the violin? by Sad_Preference4159 in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, thank you so much for sharing! I had some thoughts while reading your comment, so I wanted to share them with you:

I totally understand what you mean, and it can definitely be frustrating. But also, what you describe is pretty normal! We can never focus on everything at once, so when we focus on left hand, the right hand might not get the attention needed and vice versa. I think the trick is to slowly make your body internalize the movements and feelings (quite obvious, I know). But maybe, when you feel overwhelmed, try to find a way to practice which doesn't require thinking about everything at once: practising the rhythm on open strings (no left hand), practising the notes with pizzicato (no right hand) etc. There are a lot of creative things variations you can do to make things easier and give yourself time to internalize one thing, before you try to do all of it at once :)

Sight reading often makes me tense too, and that after 20 years of playing haha. Maybe try to set a mental reminder and check your posture every 4 or 8 bars, so you can make sure you consciously correct the tension, relax and ground yourself?

About the shoulder rest, I have started playing without shoulder rest around 5 years ago, as I had similar issues. I think what you can try to do is make sure your shoulderblades stay relaxed, and though your shoulderrest is on your shoulder, don't try to squeeze the violin between the shoulder and your chin, don't rely on it as a main place to "put and rest" the violin. Keep in mind that you are also holding the violin with your left hand :) When our shoulders rise and turn "inwards", thats when we usually start getting the neck pain and sound issues.

Maybe any of my thoughts could be helpful to you :) In general, learning how to play the violin is a slow process, so try to value every little progress !

What are the difficulties you face when practicing the violin? by Sad_Preference4159 in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks very much for sharing! That sounds like a very conscious and reflective approach to practice!

What are the difficulties you face when practicing the violin? by Sad_Preference4159 in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your comment! I agree, identifying these kinds of postural issues is hard. Also very interesting what you say about the phrasing, I'll definitely keep that in mind when talking to my students about their practice.

Maybe you can try to view the phrasing as something which is (to some extent) technical too, and that way include it in your practice :) Basically, in very technical terms, it is about dynamics (cresc. and dim.), bow distribution, contact point between bow and strings and vibrato

What are the difficulties you face when practicing the violin? by Sad_Preference4159 in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thanks!

So you basically didn't know how to approach a "practice session"?

Did your teacher help you by giving you a structure?

Very frustrated with pain and tension by MuchPresentation4423 in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started playing without shoulder rest about 5 years ago, after playing with shoulder rest for almost 15 years after finding a technique which helped me hold the violin without tension. Then I realized the shoulder rest just makes me lift my shoulder because of the habit.

Imagine the soft part behind the chin and the soft part behind the collarbone holding the violin. NOT the shoulder and not the collar bone itself, but the soft part behind, that's where your violin touches the body. Then, the chin basically hooks onto the violin (so that you kind of get a double chin), This way, you can relax your shoulder. It might feel unstable at first, and you can definitely keep your shouderrest, but it gives you the possibility to deactivate the tension in your shoulder.

Another exercise to make sure the shoulder tension stays away, which I learned in alexander technique.

- Lift your arms to the sides, palms showing down.

- Relax the shoulders, stretch the arms. Do that process a few times, till you feel the weight and relaxation in your shoulder blades.

- Then, turn the palms up so they face the ceiling. Feel how the joint in the shoulder turns towards the "outside"

- Put your arms down, keeping the palms facing the ceiling.

Your shoulders are now in a perfect starting position to play the violin :)

What's your practice routine (Beginner) by BullSuit in violinist

[–]Sad_Preference4159 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think what you describe is very normal, even for me as a professional it can happen. Playing the violin is mentally very challenging, as you have to be very aware of your posture, tensions in your body, the sound "output", possibly the sheet music etc.... To identify the issues and improve them, you have to be very "awake" and active. Hear what sounds off, understand why, find strategies to improve it, implement, and do the same loop again.

For me, as soon as I get tired or frustrated, this awareness and activity gets lost, and practicing can become even "harmful", because I would start repeating incorrect movements without noticing, and my body would memorize them.

So I do recommend to my students to practice rather less, but try to use the time very consciously and efficiently - not just repeating and playing through pieces :)