Fired Up!

Good practice session today! My work day ended with an energizing event that really helped propel me into my practice time with energy. (Yes, a person with actual self-discipline would practice at the appointed time whether s/he had energy or not. I am [usually] not that person.)

First up: A minor scale on the D string, arpeggios, thirds. The thirds are still a struggle. I will have to ask Ms. L. what to do with my hand on those very highest notes. I feel completely unmoored up there. At least I was able to practice it without feeling strain in my hand/forearm.

Next up: Kreutzer #5, spiccato. I’m supposed to be working on keeping my right thumb bent to aid in hand/wrist flexibility, keeping my upper arm relatively still (i.e., no sawing back and forth), playing fast enough to get some bouncy momentum going, and staying far enough away from the bridge to avoid scratchiness.

For moral support, since spiccato is not my favorite thing, I watched this video by violin teacher Todd Ehle before venturing into Kreutzer #5 today. The advice about imagining V-shaped and U-shaped bow strokes helped reset my thinking a bit, as did the point about tilting the stick of the bow just a bit away from you. And holding the bow a little ways up the stick helped me figure out what spiccato might be supposed to feel like without the extra challenge of supporting the (heavier) frog end of the bow.

Anyway, keeping my mind on that advice freshened my approach to Kreutzer #5, and it started to come a little easier. Hopefully all of this is in line with Ms. L.’s advice. It would be nice if I had three or four more days until my next lesson to keep working on it instead of…um…19 hours…but it’s still gratifying to experience a tiny attitude adjustment and a sense of progress.

Best for last: I spent about 45 of my 70 minutes of practice on—I feel like I should give this piece an endearing nickname since I am becoming so enamored of it, but I’ve got nothing—the first movement of the Bach A minor violin concerto.

I still have not worked my way through to the end—I have about four or five lines to go. I spent much of my time today on part of the middle section. (It’s the stretch from 2:45-3:12 or so on this video of David Oistrakh performing this movement.) Just getting my fingers in the right place has been the challenge up until now, so today I was working a bit on the zillion little crescendos and decrescendos in there. Ooooh, it is fun. It feels like someone taking three steps forward and two steps back (in a good way), getting closer and closer to something good, but taking their time and exploring the permutations and nuances of that good thing in a very Bach-y way. Mmmm hmmm.