Amateur Bard

Well, the stars aligned today and I recorded myself during practice. It’s an interesting experience! I’m less freaked out by watching myself than the average Joe; it’s just enlightening to see the “other side” as it were.

Point 1: My bowing has been a major source of dissatisfaction for me since I picked my fiddle back up. And no wonder, because in addition to general lack of flexibility, I used a lot of upper arm movement during practice. After watching the recording, I went back and played some open string exercises while watching in a mirror to keep my upper arm still. I was much happier with the sound that I produced, and I actually went and popped in an ear plug because it was so much louder under ear.

Point 1.5: Again, I was vaguely aware of it but my default contact point is very close to the bridge. An old teacher-ism. I would like my default contact point to be more ‘middle of the road’ between bridge and fingerboard.

Next goal: I’m going to be introducing a bowing warm up in front of a mirror (10 strokes on each open string) to really focus on fluidity of movement, the physical movements that produce a straight bow, and a more neutral contact point.

Point 2: I’m very bad at estimating time. I’ve been aiming vaguely at 20 to 30 minutes of practice a couple of times a week to work up stamina again. Just one page of bowing and one page of scale took 20 minutes. Hah! It’s not necessarily bad, but no wonder I feel like I’m flagging after doing my ‘warm up.’

Next goal: I might see if I can find a little clip on kitchen timer. I know, I know, I have a phone with a timer, but I don’t like to have my phone front and center during practice. Also, at full tilt, my violin is louder than my usual alarm setting.

Point 3: I’m holding my left hand fingers a bit high. It’s… a little complicated because I’ve got such short fingers, they don’t really curve aesthetically over the fingerboard. My wrist is straight, though, which is lovely.

Next goal: I’ve got a Sassmannhaus left hand exercise for finger pressure written in my notebook to try out. I think in addition to checking that I’m not pressing too hard, it can be adapted to make sure I’m not lifting too much. We’ll see.

That’s about the most interesting news I’ve got music-wise. I’m almost finished remaking my old faithful Ren faire shirt into Rabbit’s shirt. I’m planning to dedicate some time in the next couple of days to taking pictures and doing a write up.