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Mendy Smith

How to Practice During a Re-Model - II

April 27, 2013 at 2:27 AM

I'm a week into my remodel and my available practice time has indeed shrunk down to 30 minute sessions as I expected. Rather than focusing on a few measures, I decided to focus on a particular technique: vibrato.

My vibrato never developed much past the first rudimentary steps and is need of much improvement. Having struggled to get it to where it is now, I knew that it was something that you have to take slowly in small chunks to remain relaxed and flexible. So that was the only thing I focused on for the past two weeks.

At lessons today, my teacher and I discussed posture and body mechanics in minute detail, breaking down vibrato to its component parts. I then showed her what little I accomplished and got a 2 thumbs up for improvement, then moved on to what to do next. Apparently I have a habit of collapsing my wrist when changing fingers and also wedging my hand on the upper bouts in higher positions rather than keeping my hand free to move about.

This is something I can practice in short 30 minute spurts and be more effective by doing it that time frame. We'll see what happens. With luck, I will have a much richer vibrato by the end of the remodel.

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