Week Six: Hungarian Folk Song and Bow Techniques

     For my fifth week I worked on Hungarian Folk Song. The purpose and challenge of learning this song was to practice playing at increased tempos, and to enjoy playing instead of thinking while playing. I believe I have successfully accomplished this. 

     The more that I practiced playing at faster speeds, the less I focused on maintaining the technical aspects of playing. This week I really began to appreciate playing for what it was. Now that I am more solid with my technique, I am able to relax without sacrificing positioning and posture. When I went for my lesson yesterday, I noticed that I was no longer struggling to find the positions of each note.  Instead, every note came out clearly and richly.  Piotr stopped me mid song to tell me that he was very impressed with my progress. 

"You improve so fast." He said, "and I'm noticing that you are no longer thinking about the chunk of wood between your neck. You are playing. You are getting more comfortable." Being able to achieve this was the best part of my week. The comfort and ease that comes with playing is very rewarding and exciting. 

I look forward to playing more and more now that violin is becoming more natural. 

     In my lesson, I started working on The Old Grey Goose. This is a simple melody, but the purpose of this song is to teach me better bowing techniques. The song has a lot of eighth notes, and Piotr explained to me that in classical training, the eighth notes are only played on a specific part of the bow. That is, either the tip or the frog. 

The direction of bowing for quarter notes dictates where the eighth notes are played. This sounds simple, but after playing for two months with no concern for eighth notes, I've developed a habit. 

Even though his new knowledge is neither discouraging nor very difficult, my pre-formed habits caused me to struggle with adjusting my bow. Thus, it was my biggest challenge this week.

I was able to work on my project three times this past week and will, once again...hopefully...be able to practice more moving forward! 

Looking ahead, I plan to work on my bowing techniques even more and to perfect The Old Grey Goose so that I can share it next week. I also hope to continue learning how to enjoy playing the violin by simply having fun, instead focusing on perfect technique. 

Until next time!