You can practice a long time when you enjoy listening to yourself

October 11, 2007 at 11:45 AM

This is roughly the one-year anniversary of my picking up the violin again after I took time off from it for having kids. My first blog on this site followed soon thereafter, in October 2006.

And, I am going to play Fantasia on Greensleeves again in church this December (in the same service as the Bach double 2nd mvt). I also did this piece last year; I was concerned that doing the same thing again would be boring or stale.

But it's not. I tried Corwin's bowing exercise from the "Singing without Vibrato" thread: to play long, slow bows without pressure. The technique is difficult, and I can't seem to get enough volume, let alone crescendo, especially in long slurs, with no pressure at all. But it was still an interesting exercise; it brought back what I had called a "light touch" on the Infeld Red strings. It made subtle phrasing easier, gave simple phrases shape and form and color.

It also helped me with an ongoing issue I've been working on: keeping tension out of my shoulder and left arm. I have a tendency to clamp down too hard on the instrument with my chin, especially when the music gets difficult or intense; this can cause back pain and ruin my vibrato. It turns out that one of the contributing factors to that harmful clamping with the chin was the presence of too much pressure bearing down from the bow. I was unconsciously pushing back up with my left hand and shoulder to keep the instrument up. Not good. But with less-to-no pressure from the bow in the first place, it's much easier to remain relaxed and free. I really love Fantasia on Greensleeves.

Then I chanced to look at my watch, and it was 11:25 (p.m.) I'd completely lost track of what time it was and felt like I could play for another couple of hours. But I had to stop and go to bed.

It occurred to me that this was one of the first times I had really loved hearing myself play the violin. I often love hearing other people play the violin, and I occasionally love hearing myself play the viola--but usually I just tolerated how I sounded on the violin. Practice sessions were something to be endured, maybe even enjoyed, but for other reasons: working towards a goal, seeing improvement from last time, feeling my arms, hands, and fingers moving quickly and accurately in a satisfying way, whatever, not just for the sheer beauty of the sound I was hearing.

I have come a long way from last year.

From Yixi Zhang
Posted on October 11, 2007 at 4:15 PM

Congratulations, Karen! I didn’t know you and I restarted the violin about the same time. I have come a long way from last year. Indeed! Look what we’ve done to ourselves:) "A woman at our age, every day counts." I would say, the past year with violin is one of the best years I’ve spent on myself. I hope you feel this way too.

Oh yes!

From Terez Mertes
Posted on October 11, 2007 at 5:05 PM

Oh, what a wonderful post - it made me happy just to read it. : )

What a great feeling when time flies like that. And happy anniversary to you.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on October 11, 2007 at 6:52 PM

Yixi, I think we both did show up here around the same time. Thanks for starting that "singing without vibrato" thread; I haven't said anything in it because I'm just reading, just there to learn. There are a lot of threads like that; it's neat when people with similar backgrounds or at similar levels come up against some of the same issues.

This is actually my second restart; the first break was while I was getting my Ph.D. The previous restart was somewhat faster getting going, but it involved a teacher from the beginning and didn't involve a viola (ever).

I think this has been a good year, but there's plenty of room for improvement, so next year could be even better. And yes, every day counts!

From Anne Horvath
Posted on October 11, 2007 at 7:59 PM

Keep up the good work! Keep practicing! Nice to see that you haven't sworn off violin completely for That C String Instrument!

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on October 12, 2007 at 5:40 AM

Congratulations on your sense of accomplishment. I'm sure you earned it. I hope you continue to enjoy hearing yourself play the violin.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on October 12, 2007 at 1:09 PM

No, I haven't sworn off violin at all :) I think the Infeld Reds that Pauline recommended have made a big difference. They make it possible to play with very little to no pressure and still achieve a nice sound, at least on the E, A, and D. I'm still looking for a good G for my violin. The Infeld Blue is a little better than the red, but neither is really quite the right thing for my instrument.

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You can practice a long time when you enjoy listening to yourself

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