VIOLINGIRL - VIOLIN PRACTICE

Violin practice is going well.  I don't sound as good as I would like, but it's going well.

As I've written before, I've started to practice my Grade 1.  At my last lesson, Alla has started me on my sight reading.  While working on the sight reading, I've come to realise that to sight read, your eyes have to stay on the pages you are reading.  At the moment, I have to see where I place my fingers when I play, to make sure I place my fingers in the right position.  Now, I have to place my fingers without looking, so that I can concentrate on sight reading.  Not looking at my fingers is harder then I thought.  But, I'm practising and I know that with practice, I can do it.  One day, I might even try it with my eyes closed.

It's funny how a person can look for excuses not to practice when people can't be bothered to practice.  I tried to justify today about not practising.  I've been good, I've practised every day for the last three weeks and I wanted to give myself a day off.  One day couldn't hurt, but I started to feel bad.  I've done so well, and so many things I'm practising is coming together.  I can't stop now.  So, I practised.  To be the violinist I want to be, I practised.  I didn't do my violin exercises, I'll do them tomorrow.  I practised my Grade pieces and some tunes from my Abracadabra book.  I practised for an hour.  It's better than nothing at all.  I'm glad I practised.  Quite frankly, I look forward to practising.

I have been reading some blogs and articles about playing the violin.  It was good to read that I'm not the only one who has difficulty playing the violin.  Some people even had the same problems I have.  It was also encouraging.  I felt that if they could overcome their difficulties, then so can I.  It made me feel good about my playing.  I realised that taking a day off from practice wasn't a bad thing.  I don't have to feel guilty.  I look forward to practice with vigor.

I had a good lesson with Alla today.  She is really impressed and happy with my progress.  She said she could see things coming together, it's getting smoother.  The right decision was made when I decided to learn to position my fingers without looking at what I was doing so that I could conentrate on reading the music.  I'm so happy.  I do seek her approval.  I'm thinking of practising twice a day, one and a half hours at a time, which makes it 3hrs a day of practice.  I don't know if I'll do that every day as I have other things to do.  But it's only a thought.

When I practised one and half hours a day, it was solely to improve.  I enjoyed playing, but the need to improve was greater.  The more I practised, the playing improved.  The more the playing improved, the more I wanted to practice.