Gil Shaham's Recital and some practice frustrations

January 21, 2008 at 4:33 PM

It's hard for me to practice anything longer than 20 minutes, my left arm feels so tired!! I know the violin is only pound, but I felt like I've lifted weights for hours after 20 minutes of playing!

I went to Gil Shaham's recital yesterday!! Very exciting!! He is an amazing performer. Sorry, I'm still so new at violin, I cannot make any technical comments at all, all I can say is wow, and beautiful.
First, he played William Walton Sonata for Violin and Piano. I'm not a huge fan of modern music, this piece is okay, but as a violin student, I really enjoyed looking at how he plays, how his bow hand is really relaxed, his smooth wrist movements, etc.
Second piece is Bach's Sonata No. for Unaccompanied Violin in A minor, absolutely amazing!!
After intermission, he played another modern-ish piece Joaquin Rodrigo Sonata Pimpante, and closed with 3 famous Sarasate pieces. His wonderful performance lead to standing applaud from the audiences!!

I came home and practiced for a little bit. Being really mad at myself, why can't I even make a simple D on A string sound decent?

My string crossing is still horrible, my teacher said that I'm anticipating a string crossing, so my hand already changed the position before my bowing finishes, so I hear da-da-dee, instead of da-dee. I'm extremely frustrated with these , if anyone can tell me which exercise I can do to help with this I'll be forever grateful!! I purchased the first Wolfhart (I cannot spell his name for the life of me!), op. 38. :)

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on January 21, 2008 at 7:38 PM

It sounds like you have a small error in
the way you hold the violin. I do mean "small." A minor change can make a big difference. Have your teacher check it at your next lesson. There are also some very helpful stretching exercises you can do. Check those out, too. It sounds like a problem that can be solved without a lot of hassle.

From PM Chu
Posted on January 21, 2008 at 9:46 PM

Pauline, what stretching exercise are you referring to? I'm about to pull my hair out until my next lesson!!

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on January 21, 2008 at 10:44 PM

Greetings,
do you use a shoulder rest? Mostly my studnets don`t and when they start I always encourage them to be patient. It takes some time to acquire the stamina to hold the violin up for longer periods. It is not necessarily a question of doing anything wrong, just a new and extremely differnet use of the body. In his books Rolland suggetss that for a oyung child to get used ot balancing the violin (he avoids rests too) it takes about two years for things to be stabilized.
For this reason I ask my beginning adult studnets to pracitce for two ten minute sesisons a day. One in the morning and one in the evening. Adults being adults they usually ignore this advice;)
As for string crossing how you do it depends on where you are doing it in the bow and the speed of the crossing. In the beginning stages I have students first learn what are called the planes of the bow. That is, you can play on the g string and that is called plane 1. Play double stopped g and d and thta is2. D only is3. DandA is 4, A is five. A ande is 6 , e only is 7. They learn to play at these planes or levels. Then Change strings without changing the relationship between hand and all parts of arm which is basically flat- try to avoid flapping the wrist around as much as possible. One can then start seperate bow work changing strings. Anothe ruseful exercise is to play p1 and p2 as two slurred quarter notes. Then p3 as ahalf note. Then Then p3, 2 as two slurred quarters and p1 as a half note. In thyis way one is working on smooth string crossing by blending.
A simple way to make sure you dont do any too soon or inappropriate is to count aloud at all times. This is very importnat in the early stages of developing bowing.
Cheers,
Buri

From PM Chu
Posted on January 21, 2008 at 11:34 PM

Buri, thanks for your suggestions, I will try out those exercises soon. I'm so sore from my other hobby (taekwondo!)

Another question for you, I'm interested in investing in the book Basics, do you think it's okay for a beginner? I didn't want to bring all these new book to my teacher, she will prob think that I'm nuts. Is it okay to work thru them myself?

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 1:16 AM

Greetings,
well, Basics is a good investment for a number of reasons, not least of which is it is becoming something of a collectors item! I don`t see any harm in buying it and seeing what you make of it. I would suggets consulting with your teacher on everything you read though. Don`t try and absorb a lot of stuff you may only undertsand intellectually. The danger of this book is that you mess around with all dofferent kinds of things in no particular order. The major role of the teacher is deciding hoew fast any individual should go and what they need to pracoitce next. An exercise may be good in of itself but be at the wrong time and consequently bring the whole edifice the teacher is patiently building to an abrupt collapse.
I would suggets spending an hour a day listening to CDs of great violnists and score reading. In particlar learn to follow the parts of Haydn quartets.
Cheers,
Buri

From William Yap
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 1:46 AM

String corssing practise tips:

1) play the note on the string, then stop completely
2) change the bow level (guided by your elbow)
3)then play the new note on the other string.

You have to completely stop the bow before you change to the different string. Take as much time as you need. Repeat this until you are comfortable. Then reduce the gap gradually. Don't speed up the process until you are completely satisfied with the bow change. The untimate aim is to be able to cross string as you change bow, making it sound really smooth.

Hope that helps.

From PM Chu
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 5:50 AM

William, thanks for your tip! I think I will have to go back and do that. I think because my teacher commented that my scale practice was done with pauses between notes, i was really concentrating in producing a legato sound and neglected that my string crossing skill is not there yet... hence this de de da sound....

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 9:31 AM

I'm glad that you're getting Wohlfahrt 38. All my students find it very helpful. Re exercises for string crossing: There is one good one at the beginning of Suzuki 3. Wohlfahrt 38 has a good exercise for slurring notes on the same string followed by slurring notes on two different strings. Finally, a book for absolute beginners (All for Strings or Essential Elements) will have exercises for crossing open strings. Since you don't use your left hand, you can focus strongly on the bow arm.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on January 23, 2008 at 6:31 AM

Re stretching exercises: These are hard to describe verbally. A demo would be much more useful, but I'll try the verbal approach. To get tension out of your arm/shoulder

Put the bow done and do "wet dog shakes" with your left and right arms.

Move both shoulders around in a circle, lifting them as high as you can. Stop and change the direction of your shoulder movements.

Deltoid stretch: I can't describe this verbally. Talk to someone who works out at the gym regularly.

From sharelle taylor
Posted on January 23, 2008 at 6:49 AM

I second stopping before the string change.
I also second practising for a shorter period of time - I am only just starting to relax out after three or so years, and a lot of pain in the early days wasn't so much set up as just tension in learning how to support myself and the violin.
I recall my first long lesson (1 1/2 hours) - I could barely walk because of the pain in my left hip and ankle. Nowadays, I can easily get through a 3 hour lesson and only my brain dies.

Its such an oxymoron, isn't it - concentrating on relaxing. but it has to be done.

From sharelle taylor
Posted on January 23, 2008 at 6:55 AM

Oh, and I don't know that Basics is much use in the beginning - its stuffed with information, but there is information on EVERYTHING, and it is so overwhelming and in the beginning you need to develop EVERYTHING, so where to start, and stop!
i read through the bits that were interesting, most of it went over my head or was too difficult for me to implement, and I've found my teacher to be a much more useful and accessible resource at this learning stage.

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Gil Shaham's Recital and some practice frustrations

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