Back to the Basics! – Quick Practice Tip

About Back to the Basics! – Quick Practice Tip:

Oh, hi there! Vi Wickam here, with a myTalentForge.com Quick Tip of the Week!

Today’s tip is go back to the basics!

Do those things that you did when you first started the instrument. Or maybe the things you should have done when you first started playing the instrument, but you never spent the time, never invested in, that are really important.

When I say the basics I mean, long, slow bows. Trying to keep the tone steady.

All of the lessons that we have on myTalentForge.com- under the Zen Bowing Exercises– would be a great example of this.

We have The 5-Minute Bow. Where you just take the bow, and you don’t worry about tone, but you’re paying attention to all of the feeling in your arm- all the way down. That one is by Dr. David Wallace.

Pay attention to string changes. So just practice just doing string changes […]

Or the other string change- […]. Or other string change patterns!

There are a number of lessons that we’ve done on those.

You could practice long, slow bows with consistent tone on the open strings. You can practice your scales! You can practice one octave scales, you can practice double-stops.

But break things down, and practice those simple things that you may not even pay attention to anymore.

Go back to the fundamentals! Think about your posture, think about being relaxed as you play. Take those little things and pay very close attention to them. Take one at a time.

And get back to the basics. Because playing fast and playing fancy tunes just doesn’t work if you’re fundamentals are not solid.

Go back to the basics- get your fundamentals solid. And then build on those. Because you have to have a solid foundation to become a great musician.

That’s your Quick Tip for this week. I’ll see you next time!