- Working towards a realistic tempo. A couple of days ago as I ventured more deeply into the third movement of the Bach, I spent a healthy chunk of my one-hour practice session on a passage that, at tempo, would fly by in about 18 seconds (as in 2:00-2:18 here). It's daunting to know that I am so far away from playing this movement presentably. And this passage is just one example of how far away I am!
- Fingernails. Upon taking up violin again last October after 15+ years of not playing, I had to re-adjust to a lot of things. However, I did not have to re-adjust to keeping my fingernails short. A few times in my non-violin years I tried to let them grow so as to shape them, polish them, and otherwise prettify them. Forget it! When they get to be about 2 mm long, I feel an urgent need to cut them. Oddly enough, though, it's nice to feel now that I am keeping them short for a reason.
- Ms. L. She cracks me up sometimes. She is supportive, but she always makes her point. I just never know if she will do so straightforwardly, with amusing understatement, or amusing overstatement. I am collecting quotations that could constitute a post of their own at some point. Sometimes I need to speak more straightforwardly, so that is another thing that I could learn from her.
- Shifting, Thought #1. Shifting confidently and accurately feels like zipping a zipper. It’s like moving on an inevitable track, with an unmistakable starting and stopping place.
- Shifting, Thought #2. Shifting just a tad inaccurately and fixing it ASAP feels like a catcher framing a pitch.* I seem to remember a famous violinist with a famous quotation about this--something to the effect that he doesn't play with perfect intonation, but can generally adjust before anyone notices.
- Double stops plus vibrato. Third finger on A, fourth finger on E. Possible? Possible for me?
* Not that I was ever a catcher.
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