Or maybe I knew it all along
Time to double my number of posts.
Violin:
Today several things were confirmed as good ideas that I forgot to mention yesterday. The most important was the realization that I often thought my arm was relaxed when in fact it was suspended and rather tense. I believe this state was occurring when I attempted to relax my hand. It seems that a relaxation of the hand led to a stiff arm, and vice versa. So today I concentrated a lot on keeping my arm actually loose and relaxed, and tried to find a way of maintaining that while holding the boy very lightly. I found that it was much easier eventually to have the hand relaxed if the arm was as well. Building on yesterday's examination of specific right hand tension areas, I found that relaxing the knuckle of my middle finger was almost always helpful. I began to develop a feeling of drawing the bow when I noted that the thumb should feel light against the stick as well as the top four fingers. Pulling the bow down and away from the violin at first seemed to help my comfort, but made the bow very crooked. To maintain a straight bow all the way to the tip seems to require an awareness of how the bow pivots in the hand as it goes down. I probably tighten something as I near the tip. Another thing I discovered yesterday and confirmed today and forgot to mention was an idea on how to stay relaxed and in control when coming off the string. I noted that concentrating on keeping the muscles in the upper arm relaxed as the bow begins to come off made a world of difference. A relaxed arm at liftoff meant a relaxed arm at touch down, eminating clumsy and ugly returns to the string. More active concentration will be needed. Near the end of my practicing for today I found that the left hand became much more solid and reliable when I had rooted the notes in the chords that lay below them. Sustaining the chords at the piano while playing helped several passages come much more into focus, intonationally and soundwise. Ending with two made up words is always good.
Life:
Not much life today. Played in a conductor's recital, and was rather bored by his lack of an interpretation. Not that I can conduct at all. My housemate told me today that exercise decreases male's sex drive, which I thought for a moment might be a good thing to try, until I remembered that masturbation is a lot more fun. Of course, no exercise and no sex might just lead to getting involved with someone I'm not really attracted to, which has happened much too often before. Solution? Practice more.
Practice Time: 3.5 hours
Violin:
Today several things were confirmed as good ideas that I forgot to mention yesterday. The most important was the realization that I often thought my arm was relaxed when in fact it was suspended and rather tense. I believe this state was occurring when I attempted to relax my hand. It seems that a relaxation of the hand led to a stiff arm, and vice versa. So today I concentrated a lot on keeping my arm actually loose and relaxed, and tried to find a way of maintaining that while holding the boy very lightly. I found that it was much easier eventually to have the hand relaxed if the arm was as well. Building on yesterday's examination of specific right hand tension areas, I found that relaxing the knuckle of my middle finger was almost always helpful. I began to develop a feeling of drawing the bow when I noted that the thumb should feel light against the stick as well as the top four fingers. Pulling the bow down and away from the violin at first seemed to help my comfort, but made the bow very crooked. To maintain a straight bow all the way to the tip seems to require an awareness of how the bow pivots in the hand as it goes down. I probably tighten something as I near the tip. Another thing I discovered yesterday and confirmed today and forgot to mention was an idea on how to stay relaxed and in control when coming off the string. I noted that concentrating on keeping the muscles in the upper arm relaxed as the bow begins to come off made a world of difference. A relaxed arm at liftoff meant a relaxed arm at touch down, eminating clumsy and ugly returns to the string. More active concentration will be needed. Near the end of my practicing for today I found that the left hand became much more solid and reliable when I had rooted the notes in the chords that lay below them. Sustaining the chords at the piano while playing helped several passages come much more into focus, intonationally and soundwise. Ending with two made up words is always good.
Life:
Not much life today. Played in a conductor's recital, and was rather bored by his lack of an interpretation. Not that I can conduct at all. My housemate told me today that exercise decreases male's sex drive, which I thought for a moment might be a good thing to try, until I remembered that masturbation is a lot more fun. Of course, no exercise and no sex might just lead to getting involved with someone I'm not really attracted to, which has happened much too often before. Solution? Practice more.
Practice Time: 3.5 hours
posted by beatrix at 11:30 PM
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