
Hi everyone, my name is Alston and I have been learning the violin from Ms Hyejin for about 12 years now. I would like to share some personal challenges and strategies for practices that worked for me.
Throughout all the pieces that I learnt, I think that new techniques are really hard to incorporate into my music and interpretation, especially if it is a new skill, because that takes a lot of practice, and a lot of trial and error. One example of this is left hand pizzicato. I took a long time trying to figure out how to make a relatively nice sound, and I did not want to practice it because it was hard, Therefore, the cycle continued. I never got better until I realised that I needed the proper motivation. Things like quality and mindful practice is not easy, so the proper motivation is needed. When I was in violin camp in the U.S, I met a lot of people who had a lot more experience and skill than me, and I was extremely scared to mess up in the concerts. This gave me motivation to practice, and do well in my classes. When I usually practice at home, I give myself a goal every time I practice, and reward I can work towards. Whether it be a snack or some video games at the end of my practice, I always tell myself, once I can do this consistently, then I know I truly can do it in the future. I know this takes a lot of self-discipline and diligence, but I believe that everyone can do it, and it takes time to figure out one's own strategies that work best.
Some Strategies I like to have for practicing differs between pieces and composers. Right now I am playing gypsy music, and I never really done that before. I am still trying to figure out how to play this kind of music differently compared to other styles that I have played. Some general rules for all music that I've played are like not to play through the whole piece while practicing, but instead focus on small little parts and play it well. For example, even if I spent one hour practicing 3 bars, in the end it sounds really good and fits my interpretation of the music, it would still be better than wasting the hour playing through the music and not really improving. Typically, the day I have my violin lesson, I like to review what comments have been made in the lesson so it is still fresh in my memory, and I can have better quality practice.
To play well on the violin is very difficult, and it takes years to master. I think that the way that I practice is equally important to the way I play the pieces, because practicing well can develop good habits, play better, and help me in the long run. A strategy for practicing I really think is useful for fast pieces especially is to do rhythm, slow, or metronome practice. This can help clear up passages, when the notes aren't clear. For as long as I have been learning the violin, clarity has been a problem for me. Personally, these practices if done daily can really solve most clarity issues.
Perhaps the most important of all, warming up before practicing or performing. This step is crucial to having a good practice or performance. Things like studies,exercises, scales or other easier pieces are all good warm ups, because the whole point of warming up is to get my mind and body ready for practice or performance, so I can achieve my full potential while performing, or mindful practice when I'm practicing. In February, I had one of the biggest concerts I ever performed, and it was with an orchestra too. I was extremely scared to mess up, as I knew a lot of people had put resources into helping me. So I knew I had to warm up, especially when I had cold hands. Doing some last minute changes to my playing is not really a good idea because it can alter what I already had in my muscle memory, so instead I tried to find the best way to present myself on stage, aspects like showmanship and body movement. I know these strategies might not be for everyone, but everyone should try what worked for them before.
In these 12 years of learning the violin, I grew a lot as a person and understood a lot of important things to help me in the future, whether it be in violin or not. In my future endeavours in Canada after I leave, I hope to learn from these challenges. Also thank you so much to Ms. Hyejin for putting in the effort and time to teach me all these years, and teaching so much helpful information in all aspects of playing the violin.
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