The Good, Bad and Ugly

February 25, 2011 at 4:08 AM

Every once in awhile, I'll sit back and listen to several of the recordings I made of myself practicing or performing. It is a mix of happiness and total mortification.

Listening to my performance recordings from the past year I'm noticing some new things. My intonation and tone production has improved quite a bit. I still play just a tad flat overall (maybe I should tune a bit higher) and my shifts are on the 'lazy' side - they tend to slide a bit too much. My trills kick ..... hehem.... they are good. Tempo and rhythm has made tremendous progress. The bowing is solid sounding (no shakes or wavering) though I can still hear the tension. Most noticeably, my performance recordings are at about the same level of quality as my home practice recordings. In other words - I am performing as well publicly as I do at home with no one else listening.

Faults and all, I hear a noticeable improvement. Listening to myself months later provides a different perspective of where I'm at and what I need to focus on. From what I'm hearing now, it boils down to addressing tension and developing clean shifts.

From Nigel Keay
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 7:16 PM

It's a hugely useful thing to do - a great teacher.

From Christina C.
Posted on March 1, 2011 at 5:35 PM

Noticeable progress.... can't ask for more than that!

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