Some tips for success
LISTEN EVERY DAY
PLAY FROM MEMORY
PLAY BY EAR
IMPROVISE AND COMPOSE MUSIC
SING!
Caring for your instrument
• Play on the best instrument you can afford. You will want to play every day if you have a beautiful instrument.
• Your instrument must be cleaned at the end of each lesson or practice session. keep a handkerchief in your case!
• Rosin your bow every day.
• Use quality strings, the correct size for your instrument. Change them every year.
• Your bow hair wears out. Get it rehaired each year if you can afford it. It will still work for longer but won’t sound as good.
Playing at home
• Research suggests that musicians need to play for 10,000 hours to gain complete mastery of their technique.
The same could be said for tennis, golf and any other complex activity, which needs to be carried out subconsciously.
If you practice every day, your body will start going into automatic pilot”, so you can concentrate on expression and interpretation.
• Work out a practice routine. Who will help you stick to it? Use practice to reduce your screentime.
• A good habit to get into is playing at the same time each day. Early morning playing when you are fresh is better than when you are tired.
• A break in the middle of a long playing session helps with concentration. You might have two shorter sessions each day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
• Claim a space with your music stand. Set up speakers for your computer, phone or tablet. You will need to listen to, and play along with recordings.
• Play along with “Tuning Notes” so you can tell if you are out of tune. Search for “G drone” or “Bb backing track” on youtube. The Tuning C.D. on Apple Music or Spotify is great!
• Read your weekly set work on Compass/Connect.
• Make notes about your progress in your journal and keep a record of how much you practice. Aim for 3 hours practice at home per week, but this may not always be possible. If you work efficiently you can achieve a lot in a short time. On busy days try and squeeze in 10 minutes of quality practice.
• Try to increase your times each year, aiming for 6 hours in year 12 if you are doing ATAR Music.
Organising your home playing time
Look at your goals for the week online, and decide what you are going to tackle today.
Each day try to spend some time on:
• listening to the music you are learning, and music you may like to learn in the future
• technical work for your left-hand and bow control
• new pieces
• old pieces – can you play from memory?
• experimenting: improvisation, composition, playing by ear, transposing tunes into new keys
• developing a beautiful, expressive sound
If you have a new piece, look through it carefully and think about what was said in class about the piece.
Remind yourself about the key and time signatures and look for repeated phrases and rhythmic figures that will make learning it easier.
Clap the rhythm, say note names or finger notes if necessary.
Note the first place where you will need to focus practice, such as a fingering pattern or tricky rhythm.
Look for repetitions of the same challenge in other parts of the piece. Treat them in the same way.
Put the part that you have practiced back into the music by playing from the bar or phrase before until the end of the phrase after it. Repeat this until you can do it without stopping or slowing down.
Do the same with other parts of the piece until all the new challenges have been mastered.
Remember dynamics, articulation and phrasing.
Finally, play the whole piece or section through. It may take several sessions working on the piece before you are able to do this. When you can, enjoy it!
Reward yourself when you have practiced well.
Tips for success
Listen to lots of music. Tune into ABC Classic whenever possible: FM 97.7 or www.abc.net.au/classic/
Go to concerts. Subscribe to the AUSTA WA online calendar: www.austa.asn.au/chapters/wa/
Play with others – wayachamp.com, wayo.com.au, psorchcamp.com
Teach yourself songs other than those we play at lessons, either by ear or from your own books. Download sheet music. imslp.org is amazing! Bring it to your lesson.
Go to the Alexander Music Library, 2nd Floor of the State Reference Library (next to the Art Gallery in Northbridge) and borrow music. Their collection is world class and free! https://slwa.wa.gov.au/
Search the web for useful sites. Watch inspiring Youtube videos.
CRIMMS - Chunking, Repetition, Isolation, Metronome, Mirror, Slow
• Chunking - imagine a group of notes as a short phrase.
• Repetition - play each chunk until it you can play it reliably.
• Isolation - identify a tricky section and spend some time on it.
• Metronome - Don’t trust your inner pulse. It will develop over time if you work with a metronome or drum beat.
• Mirror - how is your posture looking? Try to look as natural as possible. Is your bow going straight? Are you using enough bow?
• Slow - play a passage at a very comfortable speed and gradually increase the tempo. Play it with creative rhythms so you are really in control of your fingers.