We have thousands of human-written stories, discussions, interviews and reviews from today through the past 20+ years. Find them here:
Printer-friendly version
Tommy Atkinson

February 22, 2003 at 2:12 AM

haven't updated in i a while... not too much new happening.

still working on the beethoven spring sonata, almost done mazas, practicing has been surprisingly easy lately (now that i'm using a shoulder rest as opposed to my sponge, which was starting to give me neck problems, but the shoulder rest feels great).

there's nothing new i need to learn for college, so basically i'm kind of in a rut. well, maybe not a rut, but it's like i don't have anything to be practicing for (well, except this scholarship audition, but i already know the music, it's just a matter of keeping it up to date).

it's a really interesting feeling to be practicing just for me. just for the fact that i want to practice to get better at violin. you see, for the past year and a half-ish, i've been preparing for something, whether it's orchestra auditions, college auditions (one of the most hellacious times of my life, but paid off in the end :). now i'm working a lot more heavily on technique (etudes, scales, scales, and more scales), and technically "easier" pieces that help me in other ways.

when my teacher assigned me this repertiore, she told me "we already know you can play a lot of notes and flashy technical things, so now we can start working you on more specific areas so you're ready for next year."

and so it continues. actually i really love the work i'm doing now. it has more of a purpose than preparing for an audition. i'm playing for me, to improve me, to make me a better violinist (even though it's kind of to make sure i can compete with the conservatory kids next year.. hmm... maybe i'll make a new entry about that later), and i love every minute of it.

-T

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Facebook YouTube Instagram RSS feed Email

Violinist.com is made possible by...

Shar Music
Shar Music

Pirastro Strings
Pirastro Strings

International Violin Competition of Indianapolis
International Violin Competition of Indianapolis

Violinist.com Shopping Guide
Violinist.com Shopping Guide

Violinist.com Holiday Gift Guide
Violinist.com Shopping Guide

Larsen Strings
Larsen Strings

Peter Infeld Strings
Peter Infeld Strings

JR Judd Violins
JR Judd Violins

Dimitri Musafia, Master Maker of Violin and Viola Cases
Dimitri Musafia, Master Maker of Violin and Viola Cases

Thomastik-Infeld

LA Phil

Bobelock Cases

FiddlerShop

Fiddlerman.com

Metzler Violin Shop

Bay Fine Strings Violin Shop

Violin Lab

Barenreiter

LA Violin Shop

Johnson String Instrument/Carriage House Violins

Corilon Violins

Nazareth Gevorkian Violins

Subscribe

Laurie's Books

Discover the best of Violinist.com in these collections of editor Laurie Niles' exclusive interviews.

Violinist.com Interviews Volume 1
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 1, with introduction by Hilary Hahn

Violinist.com Interviews Volume 2
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 2, with introduction by Rachel Barton Pine