Focus on the Details in Practice and Develop Your Artistic Judgment
When you practice it is helpful to focus on just one aspect of the process before trying to putting everything together. There are too many details to think of everything at once when learning a piece. Think of it as a puzzle of sound that you are assembling. Get each piece polished and then fit them together. Setting a balanced posture gives you a basis for progress. A relaxed bow hand with curved and open fingers offers you flexibility. Careful attention to the correct intonation at the beginning is a good foundation. Maybe you need to just get the bowing sorted out. Where are the string crossings? What is the rhythm ? Where can you add the louds and softs of dynamics? Is the piece steady like a Baroque dance so you should use your metronome? Is there a lot of romantic expressions so you have to decide where to slow down, hold out a note, or speed up in an accelerando. Is there a story? Is your music a song? Is your music for dancing? By focusing on differ...
