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The A String

March 26, 2012 at 9:17 PM

I started violin when I was a teenager and took lessons for maybe three years, into college. I stopped because I wasn’t practicing enough and had other obligations, family, jobs, real life.

Now, as a middle-ager, I have decided to take it up again. I started practicing on my own to see if I could do it and then decided I really needed lessons to help me along. So now I have been taking lessons for two or three months and thought it would be good for me, and maybe other adult beginners, to keep a record of what I am doing and how I am progressing. My goal is to play chamber music—Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and, of course, Bach. I think in ten years it won’t be a pipe dream any more. Here it goes.

I just started Suzuki book two. I struggled with a couple of the pieces at the end of book one. Clean staccato is difficult for me and moving up in tempo is a challenge. The Handel and the Bach at the beginning of Book two are great, not too hard, giving me a chance to concentrate on dynamics and musicality. Very satisfying.

Also playing the first Kayser op 20, number 1. That is really fun. Some of the arpeggios are challenging. I have worked on it with dotted rhythms, leaving out every other note, different bowings (detache, sluring, staccato, combinations). I have broken it down into measures and practiced one or two measures for half an hour. It all helps and moves me forward.

For rote practicing I have been doing Sevcic, op 1, number 1. Getting to know the A string in first position very well. Interestingly, some of the patterns are easy and some are hard, but not necessarily the ones I would predict. Various patterns help break up the monotony. I start with one note per bow, then two, four, eight and sixteen, all to the same metronome speed.

Some days are better than others. For no apparent reason I can be very out of tune on one day and very in tune the next. Relax the fingers of the left hand. Watch the thumb. Listen for harmonics. I can tell I am out of tune but don’t always know if I am high or low.

Still, I look forward to every day of practice in a way I haven’t known for a long time.

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Sounds great, Dave! It sounds like you are on great track with your goals--keep enjoying it!