Loosen Up

I am a little bit grumpy about the third movement of the Bach right now. I can play through it all, but not at a consistent tempo. 

Leading up to my last lesson, I was working with the metronome on it to at least get a sense of what would be a realistic tempo for me to maintain for the whole thing. Maybe 84? That feels quite slow for the first half page or so, but for about five lines at the bottom of the first page and top of the second page--I'm too grumpy and lazy to count measures or check where that is on a video of the piece--maintaining that tempo feels like accelerating! 

I stuck with it all week, though, slowing down to where it was comfortable in selected trouble areas and then trying to work the speed back up. I didn't feel like I made much progress, though, and my playing in my last lesson reflected that.

Once again, though, the issue seemed to be tension in my left hand. Ms. L. had me put down my violin and just do wrist/forearm stretches for a little while. She then asked me to play the movement again, and said, "Whatever you were focusing on before when you were playing it--tempo or whatever--think about something different this time." 

I decided to focus just on keeping my sternum out--i.e., standing up straight. Not tempo. Just a backdoor way to facilitate a faster tempo, heh heh. But no worries about actual tempo. That worked for about two thirds of a page. But my internal monologue would not shut off: "Shift fast! Little crescendo! Fast bow speed! Away from the bridge! Don't worry about the sixteenths! Land on the beat! Now!" And as soon as that started, my hand tensed up. 

Maybe I need to practice without music again. Getting away from all my notations and just focusing on sound might help things, and I should probably put the metronome away for a while. Just chill and smooth things out.