Lesson Night

Told instructor I have found an additional coach for bowing and though I said vibrato, my additional coach is mainly for bowing and noting. She wasn't too happy in that she mistook my move as minor betrayal, but we talked about it and she understood that my coach is an 82 year old very accomplished graduate from the Conservatory at Cincinnati. Of course there was some intrigue in my choice, because I 'am' frustrated in not being able to learn vibrato early on. And, yes I do realize that tonalization is critical to making not only vibrato but also various forms of pizzicato effective, also including martel bowing, shifts, and other techniques. Nonetheless, my first goal has always been to first, be a good general violinist. My second goal has always been to move through a series of basic concepts as quickly as possible in that I 'do not' intend on investing thousands and thousands of dollars in lessons--I just wanted a quick start overall. And while I am trying very hard to be patient in deference to my instructor's obvious excellence, I also have my path to consider; and, even where naive, the foundations incorporated in the notion of 'quick start' stand on thier own.


Anyway, we touched on various topics. We spoke about the wonderful effectiveness of the 4th finger exercises she created for me. We broke apart the bowing for specific slurs in Schubert's Ave Maria; and, I further increased this notation after I got home and started thinking about it more. We talked about specific variations in Wolhfhart's etudes, she clarifying the patterns in two of the variations. She helped me further intrepret the notation related to what I'm calling a 'baby-trill'; and, she also hammered me for notes I'm still messing up on the Farmer's piece.

I am consistently getting through Schubert's Ave Maria now and further committing it to memory--almost complete-- so I can either begin work on Bach's or Caccini's version (either in that I intend to to both).


Recommendations: Run scales, do a zen on each note in each scale. Visualize any existing trauma leaving left hand, and back it up with heat and exercise, and pretty girls smellin roses. Visualize the path to 105%, then 110%.

Insights: Often, if it's songs I really like, I find that my tonalization and note accuracy are fine. With violin, there's 'always' room for improvement, however given my newness it's not as bad as it seems when I'm in class.