New and Improved, Baby!

December 26, 2007 at 10:31 PM

Okay, so with starting the Rondo Capricioso and Concerto by Saint Saens in the Spring Semester and also in light of Buri's advice that technical exercises should not be the highlight of a practice session, I have some serious cutting to do.

Right now, my practice session, which I have been doing consistenly, consists of these books and pieces:

1) Play all my major and minor scales, plus the arpeggios. Then the thirds, sixths and octaves. (This takes me about 30 minutes)

2) I move on to Schradieck. I play the whole book during one practice session, moving through each etude and quickly correcting spots where I mess up or have trouble. (40 minutes)

3) Carl Flesch. (All the number 1 and 2 exercises for each scale. 30 minutes)

4) Sevcik Op. 7 (10 minutes)

5) Sevcik Op. 8 (30 minutes)

6) Sevcik, the bowing book. (20 minutes)

7) Kreutzer (20 minutes)

8) Bach Movement of one sonata or partita, right now focusin on the movement before the Chaccone in the d minor partita. (40 minutes)

9) Czardas (1 hour)

10) Kreisler Prealudium and Allegro (1 hour)

11) Mozart No. 3 Francko cadenzas (30 minutes)

12) Orchestra Music: Schubert Unfinished, James Bond, Phantom of the Opera, Pirates of the Carribean. More, TBA... (1 Hour)

For the most part, I usually practice all that stuff in one practice session unless I am too tired, like I was during finals week. Wow, it never seemed like so much until I wrote it out just now...

Okay, so my new and improved practice session will be:

1) Scales. Maybe focus on one scale, one minor, and one arpeggio for each day, instead of doing all of them in one day.

2) Kreutzer, or Rode. Or both. :))

3) Simon Fischer Basics, or Drew Lecher's book, or both!

4) Saint-Saens Intro Rondo/ Concerto.

5) Orchestra Music.

Next semester, my practice regimen will actually be a little different. I have a job and some of my classes will conflict with my already planned out regimen, so the new one:

M-F 6am, practice 2 hours until class starts at 8:20am. 7pm-10pm practice again, or I can do an afternoon session on some days.

Saturday and Sunday, I decided I will force myself to only practice one hour instead of 6 like I sometimes do on the weekends since I have time on my hands. (Well, no, really I should use that time to study, but I get lost in my practicing.)

And for Tom Holzman, I have reserved 10 hours out of the week for recreation other than violin!

Also, I found this beautiful, black spaghetti strapp dress in my mom's closet the other day. I will wear it for the concert in April!

From Pieter Viljoen
Posted on December 26, 2007 at 10:37 PM

If all scales plus double stops takes you 30 minutes you're probably not doing them right.

From Jasmine Reese
Posted on December 26, 2007 at 10:41 PM

Well, it was just an estimate. I have no concept of time when I am practicing. So, it could be longer. But I do practice them slowly, and check intonation, plus look at my bow in a mirror while doing it. When I go to lessons, I show my teacher exactly how I practice them in the practice session and she says its ok, so.... I don't know. Probably just a miscalculation in time.

From Tom Holzman
Posted on December 27, 2007 at 2:20 PM

Sounds good. Go for it!

From Sydney Menees
Posted on December 27, 2007 at 9:50 PM

Wow!!! That's a monster time-table you have! Congratulations :) I wish I had your gumption.

From Pieter Viljoen
Posted on December 28, 2007 at 1:38 AM

Ok, that's good. I'd recommend you start focusing on your weaknesses, and maybe doing less. That looks like a monster load of boring etudes...

From Jasmine Reese
Posted on December 28, 2007 at 4:07 AM

I know, Pieter. I cut all that stuff out. What do you think of the new version?

From Pieter Viljoen
Posted on December 28, 2007 at 4:35 AM

I think you should ask yourself, what are you accomplishing?

All those books you're doing say basically the same things. It all comes down to fundamentals.

Assess the efficacy of your string crossings, eveness in the left hand, intonation, and the workings of your bow. Spend 2 hours a day on that, focusing on the very problem, not just doing a bunch of etudes and books. It doesn't really matter what you're playing as long as you're finding out what problems you have, why they are a problem, and how to condition your movements to fix those problems.

In my opinion you can accomplish all of those fundamentals in the Saint Saens. Just as long as you understand that playing through scales without a very clear goal or purpose doesn't really do anything. Personally, I now use scales to play awkward keys and to be more even in fast passages. Anything else right now isn't the very best use of my time. Arpeggios however, are a different thing. So are double stops. They're not as strong as scale patterns are, so I work on them.

From Jasmine Reese
Posted on December 28, 2007 at 6:33 PM

Wow. Thanks Pieter. I mean, common sense says already that what you are saying is right, but you worded it so perfectly.

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