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A GOOD PRACTICE
Practicing everyday is the key to achieving your musical best but is isn’t simply a question of putting in the hours. Good practice can save you time and make the learning process very enjoyable whereas bad practice can erase hours of work and give rise to bad habits.
This simple guideline is the basic advice I give all my students. Enjoy the process and see how quickly you progress.
- Find a quiet room
- Have a relaxed position:
- Feet spread; roughly shoulders-length apart
- Relaxed neck and shoulders,
- Upright posture
- Approaching a new piece:
1. Divide the piece into short segments 2 bars long. You can practice these segments separately for intonation as well as rhythm and dynamics. Later you can expand these segments to 4 bars long, then 8 and so on.
2. You don’t need to start at the beginning of the piece. Look out for difficult passages and make sure you cover the whole piece equally.
3. Before you dive in, read the notes in your head or sing them. Begin to formulate an approach (think of the fingerings you will use, the bowings, the dynamics…)
- Practicing your Intonation:
- Take your time tuning up. Practicing on an out of tune instrument is counter-productive.
- Before you settle into practicing the piece, check intervals of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8ve in double-stops with a neighbouring open string.
- Although it is best to practice your intonation at a steady low tempo, always try to stick to the bowings you will be using when the piece is up to speed. If the practice tempo is too slow to fit all the notes in a one-bow-phrase into one bow, divide the phrase equally into as many bows as necessary.
- Always check that your bow is parallel to the bridge. Look in a mirror to check.
- For intonation, it is usually best to practice at an even dynamic (mf).
- Don’t add vibrato until you are sure of your intonation. Vibrato can ‘mask’ intonation and hide tuning problems but the real music lovers in the audience will appreciate your playing in tune.
- The Metronome is your friend!
- Once you have tuned up and are ready to practice the piece, set a goal on your metronome. Start at a slow pace.
- Speed up little by little as you become comfortable at each tempo.
- If you begin making regular mistakes, if your playing isn’t confident and fluent, or if your intonation needs work, set back the metronome to your previous tempo.
- Don’t cut corners. If you can’t play it slowly, you can’t play it quickly either.
- Focus on your Rhythm. Try the following rhythm exercise
- For simple rhythms (e.g quavers, semi-quavers)
Practise 5 or 10 times with the 2nd and 4th notes short
Practise the same number of times with the opposite rhythm (1st and 3rd notes short)
- For compound rhythm (e.g. triplets)
Practise 5 times with the 3nd note short
Practise 5 times with the 2nd note short
Practise 5 times with the 1st note short
You can vary this exercise, but always remember to practise each rhythm the same number of times to achieve a regular articulation.
- Respect the Dynamics
By the time you are ready to perform a piece, its dynamics should be second nature to you. Without the proper attention to dynamics, no piece has its desired effect. Spend time repeating each section of the piece at the right dynamic. Contrast each passage carefully with what comes before and after.
- Memory; learning by heart
- Learn the piece in parts and then add them up until you can play the whole.
- Play it from the score three times, then try it without. If you can’t memorise it, try it four or five times with the score. Look out for the bits you keep forgetting.
- Even once you know the piece by heart, don’t trust your memory too much and come back regularly to the score.
Keeping in mind these simple tips will help you to progress steadily in your playing and will, I hope, afford you more pleasure and fulfilment as you observe week on week the gratifying results of your own discipline.
