HI Olivia, Bohan and Amy,  here is your homework.

Olivia, hope your right hand is healing. Missed you Sunday. To keep maintaining your violin skills, you can do some mental practice without the violin.

Mental practice: go over the different finger patterns in your head. Say out loud the note names in a scale, naming the semi-tones, ( the fingers and note names which are close together).

Also, clap the rhythms in your pieces. For “my heart will go on”, think of possible embellishments and where you would like to place them in the piece. We discussed the slide, the roll ( up above the note,down below the note and back up to the note), hits ( hit finger above note onto string).

Please listen of Hedwig Theme on YouTube.  Even if your right hand isn’ t fully healed, please come to your lesson. We can do lots of stuff!

Looking forward to seeing you Sunday!

 

Bohan,

So sorry for pronouncing your name wrong all this time! I will practice the correct pronunciation this week! It is inexcusable!

Thank you for coming to your violin lesson! I reflected a bit and would like to share a few thoughts and ideas regarding your violin. When we choose a violin, so much depends on our personal preferences. What is important is not only the violin, but if it is a good fit for the player ( you!). Do you like the sound, is it responsive, are notes pretty equal across the strings? These are pretty universal…what about your aspirations, needs? The reasons I recommended fine tuners ( 2 or 4) is for practical reasons. Tuning will take much less time and effort. It can be a bit scary and risky to tune with pegs. Tuning with fine tuners is faster and more efficient. You are a student and your practice time is precious!

There are and few options for you: instead of placing new fine tuners into your present tailpiece ( which can be heavy and impair sound quality) , you could consider buying a new tailpiece which comes with 4 fine tuners. There are plastic ones ( light) like the Wittner tailpiece) or a wooden one, which is heavier and more costly. Perhaps you might want to try the plastic Witter tailpiece for around $30. Also, you could just place fine tuners on your A and E string.

Alternatively, we could experiment with ways of keeping your pegs functioning more efficiently. To get your violin sounding at its best, we can adjust your soundpost. Hope this helps. We can talk more about it on Sunday.

Bach: pls warm up with D minor scales and D minor arpeggio ( 1 and 2 octaves). Mark the bars that are difficult and only practice those bars.

Practicing with the metronome: put metronome on slower speed @ 70 per quarter note so you can hear the metronome while you play. Also make sure volume of metronome is loud enough. Practice first page with metronome. Also practice any difficult passages with metronome: slowly increase the tempo. Also pay attention to your bow division! Use less bow on 16th notes.

Next lesson we will discuss the spiccato bowing and begin learning vibrato.

Looking forward to seeing you Sunday!

 

Amy,

Thank you for working so hard in your lesson. Congratulations on your scale exam!

Now, please practice your new shifting exercises. Practice shifting 1st to 2nd finger and 1st to 3rd finger. Play the intermediary notes with your 1st finger. Remember shifting is a horizontal motion. Practice slowly making sure your left thumb is lose. Release pressure on your fingers before you shift. Try imitating the motion of seaweed floating in the water. Aim for a fluid motion in your left hand and forearm.

Practice shifting studies in 2 ways: 1) with intermediate notes 2) as written. Also practice “Fair Isle” study and ” Gym” study ( small notebook). For 3rd position practice “Pancake Peak” study and  for 2nd position ” Kites ” study.

Tempo di minuetto by Kreisler: practice beginning of piece using full bows on quarter notes and half bows on short notes. Listen to youtube performance by W.Hagen ( violin)

Pls review your scales and bring to your next lesson. We will discuss different fingerings and bowing patterns.

Looking forward to seeing you Sunday!