May 30, 2005 at 4:40 AM

I've always come to look forward to "getting into the groove of things". I'm always trying to setlle into a routine- especially now that I have long breaks with no teaching due to college (winter and parts of the summer). Of course, these grooves are not necessarily always desirable. I recently took out my violin, tuned and did some stretches, held it to my chin, and didn't know what to do next. Do I play a scale? Do I do some slow, long bows for loosening up my bow arm? Do I do one of my Sevcik or Schradiek excersises for technique? It was the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me. I mean, I had done my warm up routine (with some variation) for a year. It worked very well for me. It just made sense!
This was something very new for me. I've always been interested in the art of learning, so I've always tried to keep things fresh and new. I know not to let things sink in too much. The basics are always the same- it's not as if I decide to hold my violin on my right side, upside down, and with the scroll facing me. I had to ask myself- what happened?
The answer came slowly over a series of days. I kept doing warmups- varying it as I always had, but it was starting to dawn on me. The purpose behind it all had disappeared. Yes, by playing my scales and correcting them, I was fixing my hand positions and intonation. Yes, by playing long bows I was warming up my arm and loosening my shoulder and elbow. But it was so subconcious, it almost ceased to interest me. It's like driving to work and then realizing, as you get out of the car, that you didn't really remember the drive. Things had become so routine, even with the variations, that I had forgotten about it.
What to do then? Obviously, I couldn't play something else first- my concerto or my Bach partita wouldn't be so good without warming up. The warmup is the single most essential portion of practicing. I realized I had to step out of the box. Reading some new exercises would only temporarily relieve it. I did the only thing I thought. I took the music off the stand. And I played! I started by playing the first couple lines of Schradiek, exercise number 1. Then, I went from there. I improvised everything. When I felt my arm was a bit tense in the lower arm, I did some very light bows on just a few notes near the tip to loosen it. My pinky was feeling a bit tense in my left hand, so I let it rest while I did some fun string crossings with just my first three fingers being used. I started to realize how much I could fix and concentrate on, rather than just letting my body do it. There's so much we can learn from our warm ups. We can learn more technique there than we sometimes learn in our pieces. Towards the very end of my warmup/improv, I noticed that the kinds of things I was needing to do in my concerto (Scottish Fantasy) such as double stops in 16th notes, melodic thirds, and chords, were finding their way into my improv.
I hope that this blog will serve as evidence to me that the routines that I look forward to can be fruitless. I had fun while warming up, achieved my goal, and learned a lot. I still play my basic warmups every day- but spicing it up can add just a little bit of variety.

From andy lin
Posted on May 30, 2005 at 5:09 AM

wow. i don't even know how i happened on to your blog (well actually i was searching for information about violins, then i was reading a thread about strings, and violinists and other things on violinst.com, and then i clicked on various names). Anyway, it was odd because i had opened up all these links, and then was getting around to reading them, and i read your entry from last year about how difficult it can be to pay for school. Then I noticed you updated for the first time in almost a year just as I was reading in. Coincidence, huh?

Congratulations on being such an accomplished violinist, and I have much admiration for people who are willing to go the professional route. I used to play when I was young, and all through high school but then I stopped and haven't played for like eight years. I'm nowhere near your level (though I did get to play in all-state in ny), and have just recently picked up my violin again, so I was looking for information and stuff.

Anyway, much luck with your musical pursuits. I was too much of a wuss to pursue music, and instead am now spending my time on that incredibly financially lucrative career path of a novelist (despite my relative inarticulateness here!)

From Scott 68
Posted on May 30, 2005 at 1:33 PM

I can relate

Improv can be a very creative and rewarding expsrience and also allows you to focus on what youre having trouble with, take the phrase youre having trouble with and add variations to it, a fun way to perfect difficult phrases. When I play a piece I also play the scale for 20 min just doing what ever comes natural. Sometimes I turn on the radio and play along to whatever comes on and just improvise around the melody...

improv is a good thing

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May 30, 2005 at 4:40 AM

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