How to practise the violin

So first things first. Identify the problem. Like I was saying before, you should be working on the sections that you’re having trouble with, rather than a section that you’re already good at. So I would usually play through the whole piece, or a large section of a piece if it’s very long, all the way through once, and during that run through, clock all the bits that I’m having trouble with. And this includes things that are actually difficult like a really big shift, an awkward double stop, a section with tricky notes where I need to slow down, maybe it’s out of tune, but also parts that may be technically correct, but just sounds a bit sloppy. Write notes or circle it with pencil if you need to. 

Try to be really objective when you are playing through as well. I always say to my students, when you’re at home, you have to be the me – the person who’s being picky and pointing out all your little imperfections. Sometimes I’ll ask a student ok what could have been better about that? And they’ll say I thought it was pretty good! And they’re being way too easy on themselves. That’s not going to help you improve.

So in this piece, the bar that I think all students have trouble with, is this one. So, look at that bar and figure out why it’s hard. At this level, the string change is a challenge, as is the 3rd finger being used on A string and then E string right away.

So you could just play this bar over and over again, but what would be even better would be to practise those 2 elements separately. So do the bowing first until it’s smooth. Work on the timing. And then work on the left hand 3rd finger back and forth until that’s smooth. And pay attention too to what’s making it difficult – if you are lifting your finger too high, practise going back and forth and keeping your finger closer to the string. 

Once you’ve got those 2 elements and you can feel it’s improving, then you can put it back together and see how it is.

A really important part of practising, is making sure you practise slowly and deliberately. Or you could call it mindfully, or carefully. I think it’s human nature to want things to be over quickly, especially if it’s something you don’t really want to do. If I say play something 3 times, my students will often play it quickly, even if I’ve just said let’s do it slowly, at this specific speed. So really properly slow yourself down, and use a metronome if you need to. 

The point of slowing down is so you can really think about what you’re doing, and so you can control your movements. This is especially important if you have developed a bad habit on the section, or if you are playing wrong notes or the wrong bowing. If you play too fast, your body will just revert back to its muscle memory. You need to do it slow enough that you can think carefully about what you’re doing, and actually direct your fingers and arms to do the movements in a specific way.

A sure sign that someone is playing via muscle memory and not really thinking about what they’re doing is when I ask someone to start from a specific spot, and they can’t play the notes, and they say oh let me start from this other spot and go into it. If you are really thinking about what you’re doing, and mindfully playing the specific notes, and specific bowing, then you should be able to start from anywhere. You shouldn’t need to rely on doing a run up from notes or bars before.

Another sign is if we’re trying to practise a bar to fix a mistake, and the student keeps repeatedly making the same mistake. That’s an indication that you’re not playing slow enough, and not paying attention enough, to notice what you’re doing. If you’re actually thinking carefully about what you’re doing, there’s no reason why you would keep playing a C# when it’s meant to be a C natural for example, if we are working only on that one bar, and only fixing that one note.

So how slow do you need to go? I would always try playing at half the speed first. That’s a good place to start. And if you’re still making mistakes or it’s still difficult at that speed, do it even slower. I would say practise at a speed where you can play all the notes, in tune, without slowing down, with the right bowing, and the right rhythm.

And then we get to the next part of the equation. Repetition. My students always groan when I make them do something again, but repetition is important. You don’t just want to be able to play something well, you want to be able to play it well consistently. 

Remember that playing the violin, or any instrument, is a physical activity. You could be the smartest person in the world, and understand exactly what you need to play as soon as you look at it, but your fingers and wrists and arms and shoulders all need to be able to do it too. So you need to create that muscle memory, and repetition is how you do it. 

Think about any athlete. Would a basketball player just make one basket and decide that they’ve got it now, would a golfer try out their swing, get one good one, and stop? Of course not. Even professionals at the very top of their game still practise, and repeat, over and over. That’s how they are able to make that shot, and score that goal, when the pressure is on. They’re not doing it by accident, and it’s not a fluke.

So repeat your section, a few times, correctly. 

Usually, I would say I try to get it right at least 3 times in a row. If I get it right, but then I mess it up, I need to start counting from 1 again. It’s an arbitrary number, but I think if I can do it 3 times in a row then that probably means I’ve improved it for now, and can move on to the next step.

Once you’ve got it slow a few times in a row, you should then try to speed it back up to tempo. But don’t go from your super slow practice speed to performance speed all at once. If you do this, I can almost guarantee you that your muscle memory from before you practised would take over, and the same mistakes or sloppiness would come out again. 

So take that slow section, and play it just a little bit faster. Do that a few times. If you can still play it properly, with the right notes, in tune, clear tone, correct bowing etc, a few times in a row, then you can speed it up a little bit more, and try to get it right at that speed a few times. Keep doing that until you get up to performance speed. 

If you find that you hit a speed where it’s starting to go wrong again, or it’s getting messy, go back to practising at a slower speed again before speeding back up. 

As one of my teachers said very wisely – play as fast as you can, not as fast as you can’t. 

Now I know that it can be hard to make yourself play slowly. So this is where using a metronome can be helpful. This way you can force yourself to follow the tempo of the metronome, and you can speed it up maybe 5 bpm at a time as well, to make sure that you’re not going too fast all at once. 

Before you move on to the next section, or go back to playing your piece all the way through, link your practised section with what comes right before and right after it. If you don’t do this, again, your old muscle memory will probably take over, and you will make the same mistakes again. So we need to link the newly practised section with its surroundings.

I would usually do 1 bar before, and 1 bar after. But if it’s a particularly difficult section, I might even add just 1 note that comes next first. Then, when I’m confident with that, I can add another note, and build on it until I have a couple of bars. Then I can add the notes that are before the section until I have both what comes before and what comes after.

It depends on what you’re working on, so make your own judgement as to how best to put it all back together. 

Once you’re done your bar before and bar after, and your practised section is still intact, and hasn’t reverted back to its previous unimproved version, I would probably expand it a bit again, and do the whole phrase.

You may find that the first time you put it back together in the phrase, you will play the section wrong again. That’s normal, because that’s what your brain has been doing this whole time, that’s muscle memory. Your body is following the previous pattern that it’s used to.

I find that it’s also easy to feel like ok, I’ve practised it, it’s fine now, and not actually really be thinking as carefully when you’re playing through it again, as you did when you practised. So focus just as much during the play through as when you practised, and think through all the same steps, so that you don’t revert back to the previous mistakes, or sloppiness, or whatever it is you were working on. 

Then, when you’ve done all your sections, go back to the very beginning, and play the whole piece or section of the piece again. If you’ve practised carefully and mindfully, it should have improved, in less time than it would have taken you if you had just played it from beginning to end, over and over.

Clock any parts that still need work, and make a note of them for your next practice session.

Then, next time, do it all over again.