When Your Practice Begins

I would venture to say that most violinists think that their practice sessions begin after the violin the case has been opened, the violin tuned, the music set out on the stand, and the first note has been drawn.

Not me.

My practice sessions begin in the very instant the decision to practice has been made. Right then and there the mental ‘warm-up’ begins.

As I climb the stairs to the second floor of our house I’m hearing tone and feeling the horizontal travel of the bow. As I unzip the case I feel the strings under the fingers of my left hand, the rate of oscillation my vibrato will take when I draw the first tones.

As I’m doing the above, or some variant of them, I’m also sensing what the most appropriate music is for me to begin with. Most often it is some form of scale playing, but certainly not always.

Sometimes I will begin with a Paganini Caprice, or a tricky concerto passage that has been on my mind.

You never know, after all, when you’ll be called on to play. It’s good to be flexible, and to know how to connect with your hands without benefit of a physical warm-up.

Over the weekend I was asked to play several times in the course of a non-music seminar we attended. With one exception – I did insist on a little warm-up before the 24th Caprice – I had to take the stage absolutely cold.

Let me tell you, the mental game becomes very important in these situations. And that’s why you want to practice ramping up your mental engagement any time a decision to play has been made.

One last thing, in a few hours I’ll be sending you another email. It’ll be something to consider very seriously.

Keep a good look-out.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Hopefully the U.S. Postal Service is getting back to normal after the tremendous volume of Violin Mastery shipments last week. I think the coast is clear now for those sensitive types out their who haven’t yet ordered ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 3 and 4” out of regard for the backs of mail carriers.