Well....darn it.
How, how, how?! How could I have possibly forgotten to hit the publish button?! Apologies to all, but here is what I did during the duration of the fifth week of learning the violin!
This was the week where I needed to practice as much as I can. I upped my practice time to three hours a week, continuously working on the piece "Swan Lake." However, I also needed to work on my TED Talk so I decided to shorten the last few practice times to one hour and spend the majority of my time working on the TED Talk. Here is a specific breakdown of what I focused on each day of the week:
Sunday: Intonation of the notes (making sure that my violin playing is in tune)
Monday: Vibrato practice (using simpler pieces from Suzuki Book 2)
Tuesday: Fluid bow movement practice
Hold.
Up.
Because the greatest news has arrived!
Our TED Talk presentation dates have been moved!
And that means one thing....more time to practice and prepare!
Hearing this news on Tuesday definitely got me excited. I changed my "game plan" and decided to have the rest of the week as three hour practices and begin my TED Talk planning next week. So, here's for the rest of the week:
Wednesday: Even tone throughout (done by playing with staccato and playing slowly)
Thursday: Vibrato practice (with Swan Lake)
Friday: Fixing posture (little details like a slight wrist adjustment and position of the violin on the shoulder)
Saturday: Dynamics and expression
Now, throughout this week, I was thinking about what I should do to make my piece bigger, better, and sound like a professional. But thinking about it more and more made me realize that playing the violin like a professional won't do any benefit for my project. Doing gestures and things that professionals do during performances is something that I should not be doing until I reach that level. It may seem like a big deal to look good, but in the end, the progress is what will shine through. Whether it be perfection or a tree, some things definitely may seem bigger than they appear.
Your blog is so funny! I was excited when they moved the dates of the presentation too, but that meant more time to procrastinate. It's great that you spent your time preparing and not thinking about preparing, like I did. You spend more time on the violin than I do, and I have been playing for years! Do you think you will continue with playing as much as you have over the past six weeks?
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