Practice Tips
"Good practice will, in fact,
perfect a passage, but bad practice will make you an expert at playing the
passage badly."
Check out this AWESOME page from the Long MS Orchestra Website - Fix your position problems!!
| VIOLIN & VIOLA | CELLO & BASS |
| Instrument parallel to the floor | Left elbows up! |
| Gofer Holes | Thumbs behind neck and horizontal |
| Thumbs UP!! | Fingernails toward the face |
| Feet flat on the floor | Bow in Lane 3 |
| Boxes with fingers | Play on tips of fingers |
| Pinkie bent on the bow | Gofer holes |
| Elbow under - no chicken wing! | Straight wrists! |
| Make sure that you have a quiet spot to practice - with
no interruptions. It helps to decide how much time you have that day
to practice, then set a timer for that amount of time. Set a goal
for yourself for that practice session - what do you want to get done by
the time you're finished practicing? Work towards that goal.
Try not to just "run through" your music over and over - that's not
practicing - that's performing!!
The vast majority of kids do NOT enjoy
practicing. Most of the time, they practice because they have an
upcoming chair test - not because they feel the inner drive to become
better. It is critical that parents stress the importance of
practicing as much as we do in the classroom. Practicing is just
like doing homework every day.
Intonation Chorales |