Making Violin Goals Come True This Year

January 5, 2026, 11:26 PM · Happy New Year! As we look over our resolutions for 2026, I thought I'd offer some practical advice on how to achieve big goals - beginning with a story about a rather impractical one.

Years ago, when I was studying violin pedagogy with the wonderful British violin teacher Helen Brunner, she posed the following question to the aspiring teachers in her class: "How would you go about eating a bicycle?"

We all laughed. What strange goal. She had to be joking, right? Eat a bicycle! And what does this have to do with the violin?

But she didn't bat an eye. Eyebrows went up. "Are you serious? You can't eat a bicycle!"

"Yes you can," she said. "How would you eat a bicycle?"

We went around the circle, each trying to answer this question. Hmmm...start with the tires - cut them up and put them in a salad? No. Melt down all the metal? But then it would be too hot, you'd burn your tongue. And it would cool into a massive lump - still inedible. We were stumped. Pretty soon we were begging her for the answer.

With eyes wide open, she delivered the dramatic solution: "You grind it into SAND, and eat it with a spoon!"

She added: "But don't actually eat a bicycle."

Of course, her point was pretty obvious: when faced with a seemingly impossible task, start by breaking it down to the smallest, most digestible elements. Use some creativity. If you break it down and it's still unmanageable, then break it down even more. Then, conquer it in small bits - little spoonfuls. Make it comfortable, too. Helen would probably spoon her bicycle sand into a nice a cup of tea, for pleasant consumption.

It's good advice for violinists and violin teachers - this wicked-difficult instrument of ours presents seemingly impossible demands on a regular basis. Then, once we've accomplished the impossible, we are met with something even more difficult. Whatever your level, the challenges never end.

So how do we grind these challenges to sand?

Let's remember, we are often drawn to difficulty. This is an essential part of growth, learning and motivation: wanting to achieve, to prove ourselves, to do something special. But it's a fine balance. If it starts looking like a monstrous task, then the fear of failure can start to grow, and motivation sours.

"That looks really hard, I don't think I can play that."

My son did said this a number of times during his piano-lesson days, and I'll never forget the wonderful way his teacher (Nancy Mitchell) handled it.

"I bet you can play the first note," she would say. Then she would demonstrate. She would play the first note and nothing more.

It never failed. Of course he could play one note, sheesh! So he played the one note.

"See, I knew you could!" she'd say, then she would leave him hanging. Inevitably he would want to learn at least a few more notes, but if he learned only five notes, then that was the assignment. Usually, they built some momentum and he had at least a small section to start practicing.

Have I stolen this idea? Yes! For teaching, and occasionally, for myself. Start with something small and doable: one note. Or, downloading the music. Or just listening to it, without trying to play it. Then add to it, little by little. Make sure you conquer each little thing along the way, and before you know it, you will be making progress.

And remember: don't get cocky and jump straight back into trying to eat that bicycle whole - you'll get indigestion!

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Replies

Nickie McNichols

January 6, 2026 at 04:06 PM · I love this. During my last lesson, learning a Handel piece, my teacher told me “Love every note.” I had been playing one note flat. I’m learning to “love it” by playing it correctly.

I know now, I need to go back the music and learn to play each note, not only correctly, but beautifully.

Thanks Laurie!

Andrew Fryer

January 6, 2026 at 06:31 PM · Michel Lotito, "a French entertainer famous for deliberate consumption of indigestible objects."

Laurie Niles

January 6, 2026 at 07:17 PM · Wow - I hadn't realized that someone has actually eaten a bicycle! I still wouldn't recommend it....

Richard Pairaudeau

January 6, 2026 at 08:46 PM · That's an excellent practice philosophy question, Laurie! I can't help wondering though, whether Michel Lotito might have been a success on the violin.

Laurie Niles

January 7, 2026 at 04:02 AM · Well, he was able to digest the indigestible - perhaps a helpful skill!

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