Violin Journal: #4
I have now started taking violin lessons and it’s been incredibly helpful!
It’s been a few weeks since I last updated you on my progress, but the video in this post is from a couple of weeks back and was recorded after my first violin lesson. I worked on my sight-reading in the build up to this video and, as you will see, the bowing is not straight as I was not focusing on it at all. My new teacher, Emily, picked up on it straight away and has given me some exercises to improve it.
Mostly, these exercises involve taking things that I already know, such as scales or short pieces, and really focusing on long bow strokes that stay perpendicular to the fingerboard.
Emily was impressed with my intonation in general, but has really encouraged improvement on bowing technique as a whole. This has included trying to ensure that the correct amount of pressure is put on the bow and that the hairs of the bow are angled correctly (sometimes I don’t have my bowing wrist forward enough).
I’m very much looking forward to sharing my progress with you shortly, and showing the improvements that I have made with a professional violinist watching over my development.
Top Tip #5
Invest in a teacher!
As a pianist with a degree in music, I thought that it would be possible to learn the violin on my own, and it is… possible. However, picking up a few bad habits that I didn’t want to become ingrained, general lack of motivation, and the benefit of a little professional input made it obvious that investing in a teacher was the next step for me. I have already noticed a significant improvement.
Next Time…
I will be working on two pieces from Jessica O’Leary’s 80 Graded Studies for Violin: Book One for my next post. I’m going to get the performances to as high a standard as I can, so hopefully it will be an enjoyable listen.