Knowin’ When To Move On

It’s one of the great questions of our lives, is it not. When to move on…

But, no, I am not going to get all philosophical on you – some might think I do quite enough as it is.

The title of today’s email is only in response to a question posed by a gentleman aworkin’ through Vol. 1. He asked whether he should be able to play an etude up to speed before moving to the next.

My answer is a conditional no, actually. First of all, I like having a few things I’m working on at any given time. I actually suggest on the teaching DVD that numbers 2, 3, and 5 make a nice ‘set’ which you can work up together. One could, however, work on three very diverse etudes at the same time.

What is important is that you achieve something excellent on an etude before going to whatever comes next in your practice, be it an etude, piece, or whatever. Excellence is about achieving something you haven’t done before, something that puts a point of distinction on your session.

I can’t even say what it should be because it will be different for each person, and for each practice session. That’s what makes practicing so interesting. Uh oh, I’m starting to feel philosophical again…

I don’t mean to trivialize this. In my own practice I will occasionally find myself drifting, not really playing to a specific purpose. THAT is what you want to avoid, at all costs. Now, if I sense that fatigue is at work, causing the drift, I will chasten myself by insisting on at least one small ‘point of distinction’ before I put the fiddle down.

That little act of defiance is a training device for when I have to perform tired. It happens, and you’d better be able to pull yourself together and focus when it does.

Now, let’s look at getting up to speed. When I see a fast tempo marking in the upper left corner, I begin salivating. I get HUNGRY for speed. Not reckless speed. Controlled speed. E Type Jag speed.
Keep asking yourself what you can do to be more efficient. Push yourself, get your passion aroused, your mind in high gear. Place new demands on your hands and give them all the mental assistance possible.

It is sometimes a VERY GOOD thing to bring a sense of urgency into the mix. Put yourself on a deadline. ‘I will play at allegro vivace by so and so date’.

Whatever strategy you devise, don’t get yourself spread too thin and begin making ‘compromise’ your middle name. Sometimes taking a break, going to something else for a while and coming back, is a great move. Just make sure you DO come back, and hold yourself to showing improvement when you do.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. I still have 5 copies of ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 1” available with the audio CDs included. If you haven’t ‘gotten with the program’ now’s the time to do it while those CDs come with it, free.