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Some thoughts on practising (II) – this time, pain-free

As requested by a reader (thank you Junior for the suggestion), I am writing this as an add-on to the previous post on practising. I would also like to thank everyone for your kind words and support that you have given me. It means a lot! 🙂 

In the previous post on practising, I wrote more about how we should be solving problems instead of playing through whatever we have learnt. If you haven’t read it, you may want to take a look at it here. Other than that, I have also noticed that students tend to disregard how their bodies feel, especially the fingers and arms, while practising. With the violin being such an unnatural instrument to pick up, it is all too easy to play with excessive tension. This can lead to injuries in more severe cases. The most worrying part is that we tend to think that it is because we are still getting used to the instrument and thus it is normal to experience pain while playing! You may feel some level of discomfort especially in the beginning stages but it shouldn’t be pain. 

Both kids and adults face this problem but I am usually more worried about adult students who have a higher threshold for pain and discomfort, as well as the discipline to practise for much longer hours – a recipe for injuries! I wasn’t an exception as well and I did get injured in my first few years of violin playing which got me obsessed over avoiding such injuries for quite a period of time (and I perhaps drove my teachers crazy back then (; ). In fact, tension problems can exacerbate during performance when you get nervous, and can negatively affect your playing especially in crucial settings like exams, recitals, auditions etc. 

As such, I hope that we will be more mindful towards our bodies during practising and not just focus on hitting the right notes at all costs. Again, I’ll use some examples from violin playing to explain what I mean and I hope that other instrumentalists can draw parallels from them too. 

Checking for excessive tension while practising 

With so many studies and books being published on violin-related injuries, I’ve realised that violinists (and violists too) need to be really careful in not playing with excessive tension. We are most at risk of sustaining a long list of injuries that include neck and shoulder injuries, back injuries, tendonitis, etc. I’ll include some links below for further reading if you want to read up more on the topic.  

It’s not just about getting injured, but playing with excessive tension makes it difficult for us to fully express whatever we are playing. How do you play with freedom of expression if you are not even comfortable with the instrument? And how will you effectively convey your musical ideas to the audience if you are grappling with excessive tension? Of course, it takes time to get used to the awkward position and movements needed to play the violin but that does not mean we need to work against our bodies and make it harder for ourselves… 

The most common issue is that students tend to focus so much on getting things right and not pay attention to what their bodies tell them. In some cases, they persist in practising although they feel pain, instead of trying to find out what’s causing it and how to fix it. 

The bow hold 

The bow is a good place to start – are you holding the bow more tightly than you need to? Can you hold it a little less tightly with the fingers? Do the fingers feel cramped or strained? Are the fingers in their natural position? Did you extend any finger too far away from the others? I’m not going to start a war on which type of bow hold is better but perhaps you’ll want to take just a few minutes to feel how little effort it takes to let the bow just stay on the strings. As one of my teachers said, “The best bow hold is no bow hold.” Work with gravity and try to feel the weight of the bow on the string. It is easier to do this at the frog where the bow feels heavier and try removing a few fingers after placing the bow at the frog. As always, this article is no substitute for a proper violin teacher and you will need someone to teach you about good sound production. The point here is to give you some idea as to what you can do during your practice sessions and be more aware about how your body feels. 

The left hand  

The left hand also has several areas which we can look at, and see if we can reduce excessive tension. Are you gripping the violin too tightly because you are afraid that it will drop? Is your thumb squeezing the neck? Are your fingers pressing too hard on the strings to get the notes to sound? Do you tense up when a shift is coming? 

See if you can relax the thumb and fingers more. Again, it is crucial to find a comfortable left hand position so that you can navigate up and down the fingerboard with ease. This can be a huge step to achieving better intonation, shifting, and vibrato.

Playing loud 

Playing loud is one of the many things that can cause us to stiffen up because we want to put in more effort to get a bigger sound, and we can get worried about whether we can achieve sufficient projection. One of the common issues is to tense up the bow arm and press harder on the bow (whatever you do, please don’t press the bow down with the index finger!). In fact, we need to relax more, work with gravity, and let the bow sit better on the string. You can also explore the sounds that you can get from different sounding points. 

The violin set-up 

Last but not least, if you find that excessive tension persists and adjustments made to your technique seem to be ineffective, you may want to take a look at your own violin set-up (i.e. your chin rest and/or shoulder rest combination).  See if they are of the right shape, size, height etc. that suits you. 

This is important as it can reduce a lot of unwanted tension in the neck and shoulders just to accommodate the instrument. For example, if your chin rest is too low, you will have to bring your head too far down just to rest on it. The opposite is true as well – if the chin rest is too high, you create unnecessary tension in the neck and jaw too. And to make things worse, you can feel aches and pains after practising, or even get injured. I’m sure that if you are reading this post up to this point, you’re pretty serious about learning the violin and the last thing you want is to not be able to play the violin for a period of time right? 

Conclusion 

These are just a few things that you may want to start looking out for in your practice sessions. A blog post is insufficient to cover much depth nor serve justice to such a huge and important topic. However, I hope that this will help you to get started on looking at these issues, even if they may seem trivial. There is no quick fix to tension issues and the best time to get started is now. 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts. Do subscribe to the blog too! Happy practising and cheers! 

~Vanessa

Articles for further reading: 

Moraes, G., & Antunes, A. (2012). Musculoskeletal disorders in professional violinists and violists. Acta Ortopédica Brasileira, 20(1), 43-47. doi: 10.1590/s1413-78522012000100009 Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3718408/

Niles, L. (2018, October 23). Preventing violin-related injuries, with Pamela Frank and Howard Nelson. Retrieved from https://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/201810/27513/

Schallock, M. (2017). How to hold a violin. Retrieved from https://www.violinist.com/violin/how-to-hold-a-violin/

The Strad. (2018, September 18). 10 ways to avoid tension in your playing. Retrieved from https://www.thestrad.com/10-ways-to-avoid-tension-in-your-playing/21.article

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Graded Music Exams – how they can benefit or limit you

Graded music exams are a common goal among students and they give students something to work toward. After all, it is normal for us to want affirmation and recognition of our playing standards, as well as to see how far we’ve progressed on our musical journeys. Besides, certificates from music exam boards such as ABRSM or Trinity are internationally recognised. In Singapore, kids who have attained higher grades can add these certificates to their portfolio to make them more competitive for direct school admissions. 

The benefits of graded music exams

To be fair, these exams serve as good checkpoints along the way as students have to meet certain requirements for repertoire, scales, sight reading, and aural work (but due to covid, only repertoire work is needed now). These get more demanding as students work their way up the grades. They are really good motivators to get us to practise too! However, the exams can be a double-edged sword, if they are used as a means to an end… I’d like to emphasise that learning music is a lifelong journey and always be clear of your purpose in taking the exams, and how these exams play a part along the journey. 

A word of caution if you are too focused on graded music exams – it can limit your musical exposure 

Ideally, we should always be working on a mix of scales, etudes, exercises, and repertoire so that techniques are constantly built and maintained – for us to ultimately serve the music. However, I’ve seen cases where students were so focused on the exams that they only learn and practise three exam pieces in a year, plus whatever scales they were going to be tested on for the exam. Although it is one thing to be prepared for the exams, I believe that we still need to work on different things to add more variety to our musical palette – there is so much material out there to be explored than just confining yourself to the exam syllabus. I’ll go even further to say that Grades 1-8 serve as an introduction to classical music if you decide to engage in more in-depth studies. 

The importance of basics in playing a musical instrument – how they measure up in relation to graded music exams

Perhaps, the misconception of equating higher grades to better playing standards is the most dangerous of all. Someone who has attained a higher grade should be better than someone else who hasn’t passed that grade, right? Doesn’t that make sense? Well, yes and no. Of course, all things being equal, that is correct – the person who has passed the higher grade will be of a higher standard. However, that’s not always the case especially when people start to just compare based on grades attained. It depends on how well grounded one’s playing fundamentals are. Thus, it is possible for someone at a lower grade to sound better than someone at a higher grade who plays more advanced pieces. Think of the paper chase and rat race in a wider context. 

Does progressing up the grades mean that you are a better musician?

It is also getting more common from my side to hear so and so passing grade X in Y number of years (some sort like setting a new record), or people asking whether it is possible for them to pass grade X in Y number of years. There’s no right or wrong here. It’s perfectly normal as everyone has different expectations and goals. But no matter what musical goals people have, I’d still be telling them not to lose sight of the ultimate goal of making good music. It is always more important not to rush to a destination, but to develop proper playing habits and a strong foundation along the way. That saves students a lot of effort in future when they do not have to redo the more basic stuff, and it gives them more room to focus on playing musically! Furthermore, it is more of a joy to hear “simpler” pieces played well than to hear students whack through repertoire that is way too advanced for them. There is just no way to make good music if one is struggling to play the right notes… 

Conclusion

To conclude, graded music exams are good checkpoints along our musical journey. Always try to maintain a balance between exam preparation and practising a mix of technical work and repertoire. Remember that learning music is a lifelong journey and enjoy the process! 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts, and if you have any topics that you’ll like me to write about. Do subscribe to the blog and stay tuned to future posts! 

~Vanessa

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Why scales shouldn’t be all that boring

Ah yes, scales again. Much has been said about scales and the importance of practising them regularly, just like brushing our teeth. Despite this, I’ve realised that it can be difficult for us to motivate ourselves to practise scales! This isn’t surprising. Simon Fischer wrote in one of his books, ‘The Violin Lesson’, that there are soloists/competition winners who play major violin repertoire without practising scales regularly. He also admits that before he realised the benefits of scales, he also put off practising scales until they were required in exams, but worked on exercises instead and he saw how his scales improved along the way while working on those exercises. 

It was the same for me. When I was younger, I never liked scales at all because I found them boring. No surprise, so do most of my students when I first asked them. However, that usually happens because they do not see the importance of scales and the purpose of practising them! In that regard, I will attempt to explain these briefly and hopefully make scales more interesting (or, less boring) to work on. 

Simply put, scales are important because they are used to build a strong foundation in the beginning (one octave scales in first position, for example) and for fine-tuning/technique maintenance as you get more advanced. Scales are so important in helping us play with good intonation, especially for string instruments like the violin. For a start, they help us to gain familiarity with the fingerboard and to develop a critical ear. And usually, the first blemish to be picked up in performances is out of tune playing! As you progress, try to appreciate the colour of every note in the scale (and across different keys too). However, I have to clarify that scales are made up of a combination of techniques and it takes a certain level of mastery of the different elements (like string crossings, shifting, good tone production etc.) to play scales well (i.e. exercises). 

If we were to go deeper, scales can be used to practise the many aspects of violin technique – not just the left hand, but right hand too (I’m pretty sure this applies to other instruments as well). For example, you can play a scale in all the different positions themselves, play a scale just on one string, across different positions (especially in three and four octave scales), and even practise vibrato on notes of the scale. For the right hand, there are different bowing variations such as number of notes in one bow, length of notes (and tempo), different sounding points etc. The list goes on. Also, not forgetting double stops and extended technique such as left-hand pizzicato. Combine these and you get infinite possibilities on what to work on! Just take a look at scale books such as Carl Flesch, Galamian, and Simon Fischer, and you’ll know what I mean. 

It could be shifting, tone production, intonation, and so on. Just choose something to focus on and once you get into the nitty-gritty stuff, scales become far from boring as you’ll probably realise that there’s so much to be done! That’s when scales become far from boring and all the more exciting when you know that you will be making some real progress which can be felt when working on repertoire. 

In addition, make sure that you play through the entire scale to see what worked and try to find solutions to improve what didn’t work so well. It is also recommended to balance practice sessions with etudes and repertoire so that you don’t lose track of the ultimate goal of playing an instrument – to make music. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, the maximum time that we should spend on scales seems to be an hour or so. 

I hope this helps and try to practise scales regularly! I’ll also be sharing more articles on my pages and updating the blog whenever I can. Stay safe everyone! 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts. 

~Vanessa  

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Some thoughts on practising

In the years that I have been teaching, it is pretty common to find out that students usually equate “practising” as “playing through”. I’m sure that music teachers out there will agree with me. This is a misconception that is all too prevalent in students of all ages and it is the teacher’s role then to correct it. Plus, the teacher’s job is arguably to cultivate students to learn independently outside of lessons and be their own teachers in future.

During lessons, it is easy for teachers to see how (or if) a student practised during the week. The kind of practising produces the kind of results – you reap what you sow.
Thus, playing through an entire piece over and over again during your practice session, with the same mistakes happening over and over is not practice! Often, the result of this kind of practising manifests itself in the lesson such as in cases where the student fumbles over the same old problem areas, transitions not fixed etc. In short, it is all too obvious and I’m not going to spend too much time listing all the cases out.

We also always hear “practice makes perfect” and if you don’t get it, just keep trying again until you succeed. These have been discussed previously in many articles that I have come across regarding practising the instrument and the consensus reached in them is that practice does not make “perfect” but rather, practice makes “permanent”. Only perfect practice makes perfect. That explains why articles often talk about how difficult it is to break a bad habit and in more extreme cases, some say it is better not to practise at all if in doubt! So now you know, playing through your pieces is just a matter of reinforcing your mistakes! However, it must be made clear that playing through is important to see how well everything fits into place and to identify areas for improvement. It is also to make sure that you can play the piece in its entirety before you present it for a performance or exam.

So what then should we be doing during practice sessions? In short, solving problems. The articles I came across also talked about “deliberate practice” and I will include them right below for anyone who is interested to read more. Ideally, one should be identifying specific areas/spots to work on. Know what you want to achieve and how you want it to sound like. Then play it and be as critical and honest as you can with yourself in identifying the problems e.g. an out of tune note, a bad shift, poor bow distribution etc. It is a good idea to record your playing as well. After that, pick one problem, think of ways to solve it, and test your solutions to see what works best given the context of whatever you’re working on. It is important to narrow and break parts/phrases down – to one or two notes depending on what the problem is. After you have come up with a solution, you should be focusing on making that a habit. Repeat this and also make sure that you can integrate the isolated parts back into the entire piece. This should help to make practising more efficient.

It may not seem all fun and games and deliberate practice can be very mentally draining. The experts and best violinists often said not to practise more than an hour at one go and take breaks to ensure maximum focus. The consensus seems to be a maximum of 3-4 hours of total practice time in a day and the brain will not be able to absorb anymore beyond 5 hours. Quality, not quantity. You should have time to relax and have fun outside of the practice room and it is always better to keep the practising consistent i.e. practising everyday at shorter intervals vs practising for long hours once a week.

I hope this helps and continue to enjoy making music! Meanwhile, am looking forward to seeing all my students in person soon. This is slated for phase 2 of the easing of the circuit breaker measures.

I’ll also be sharing more articles on my pages and updating the blog whenever I can. Stay safe everyone!

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts.

~Vanessa

The articles for further reading:

Kageyama, N. How many hours a day should you practice?. Retrieved from https://bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-practice/

MacKenzie, A. (2018). 10 tips to help you practise more effectively. Retrieved from https://www.classicfm.com/lifestyle/wellbeing/musician-practice-tips/

MasterClass. (2019). Violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman’s tips for practicing violin. Retrieved from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/violin-virtuoso-itzhak-perlmans-tips-for-practicing-violin#4-ways-to-establish-good-violin-habits