It’s start of the brand new year!
If you’ve been playing the violin for some time, and looking for tips to improve your playing further this year, then here are some tips for you.
1. Be Disciplined!
Have you been following your practice schedule closely last year, or you’re just taking it too easily? Needless to say, your violin teacher would have reminded you to practice, practice, practice. Yes, they are always ‘nagging’ at you to practice, but there’s a reason for it!
They want you to improve!
So, have you been following your schedule? If not, this is the time to stick closer to your practice schedule! If you set out to practice 30minutes a day, make sure you do it! If you set out to work on a specific technique 1 hour a day until you can’t play it wrong, then do it!
And this is not about ‘kids learning for exam‘ or ‘adults learning for leisure’. We’re quite sure either you are learning for leisure or learning for exam, you still need to practice!
Stay disciplined and we are sure your violin skills will improve dramatically!
2. More Stage Time!
What’s next after practicing hard at home? It’s about performing in the public!
Wait wait… I’m not asking you to bring your violin out to perform at your neighbouring MRT station or night market. But you get the idea.
It’s not just enough to practice behind closed doors.
Getting out to perform for others is part of learning, and you can learn so much more by putting yourself out to perform, other than just practicing perfectly in your room. The entire experience is different.
When you are out in the public, you will feel uncomfortable, you will be nervous, you will feel weird, your playing may not be that perfect due to environment.
Yes, that is where you learn how to manage them! If you play very well during practice, it’s because all these weird feelings or conditions don’t exist!
To be a better violinist, you have to learn how to play the violin well, even when you’re nervous or uncomfortable. This is when you need to clock more stage time!
Find opportunities to perform! Your friend’s birthday party? Your parent’s birthday? How about performing 1 song for your closed friend with he visit you?
All these little opportunities may look small, but all these stage time will add them to give you more stage time, more performing experience!
3. Stick To A Great Teacher!
This is especially important for students who think they can learn on their own, or they can master violin just by learning a couple of lessons with a private violin teacher. Some students prefer to learn at their own pace, without paying for another lessons. They thought they can learn from watching YouTube.
True, you can learn violin by watching YouTube videos. It’s free too. But, are you learning correctly? Are you progressing? Are you taking too much time to learn a simple thing, when you can simply learn it in 1 lesson with a teacher? If you are still learning violin on your own, it’s time to start violin lessons with a violin teacher near your place!
And if you’ve stopped violin lessons after taking a couple of them, it’s time to resume them. Even though you can continue on your own, you won’t find much progress. When it comes to learning anything, the most important part is the foundation part – which is the beginner lessons.
Yes, they may be easiest level, but that is the most important level. Once you master your foundation, then you are able to progress further on violin playing. Hence, if you have been learning yourself for some time, it’s time to find a good violin teacher and stick to him!
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So there you go! 3 important tips to kick start your violin journey for 2017. Go forth and act on these tips and you’ll see tremendous progress this year!