logic
I'm trying out Henry Schradieck's School of Violin Technics Book 1 for the week, to review fundamentals in left hand fingering and right hand coordination.
Schradieck has taken on a mythical reputation in the violin world as exercises that will transform violin playing if taken slowly enough (repeated and practiced line by line, even measure by measure). It's a set of dense exercises, with series of scale-like (going up and down the ladder of notes) and arpeggio-like (skipping notes here and there, but still, going up and down the ladder of notes, using a chord structure) sounds that are more mechanical than musical.
I learned about Schradieck in my adult life from Nicola Benedetti's "Back to Basics" YouTube series, which has been my guide for the last year or so when it comes to personal practice. Looking farther in the community, I see violinists of all kinds and levels practicing Book 1, so I thought I should give it a try.
Now this isn't my first try at Schradieck. About a year ago, I went through line 1, exercise 1, page 1. It went ok. I didn't go any farther though, and I think that try at Scradieck made me want to attempt more today.
tensing up
A large part of my musical story is that I started learning violin when I was much younger. Most of my own story I don't remember, either because of neglect or suppressed by trauma. Now that I'm older, I describe it as burning out on classical training. But at the time, I didn't know what was happening. It was just very lonely, confusing, and frustrating. The main response I had to my emotions was anger.
It's taken me the four or five years of violin/fiddle playing with my teacher Ajineen and fellow fiddlers to overcome those emotions and reactions from childhood, and for me to begin to appreciate and love the instrument and my own sound.
In my fiddle practice, I keep uncovering these things about my violin past that I didn't remember or understand. The first violin teacher I had, I am embarrassed to say, I don't even remember his name. He was a part of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, but I don't remember anything beyond that. So now I'm relearning all these things that he taught me so long ago.
Exercises that have become muscle memory, and that I still instinctly play today, I see echoes of them as I browse through YouTube videos of people practicing Schradieck.
It turns out I was learning some of the Schradieck book back when I was 12 years old, except nobody told me what I was doing.
I'm relearning it now and doing some personal anthropology where the subject is my own technique. Digging into my own violin past, as a way to understand myself and where I came from.
day one - letting go - exercise 1, lines 1, 2, 3
I was scared of my fourth finger. The pinkie is sometimes sharp, sometime flat. Today's lesson on the surface was about tuning and scales, yes, but it's also about forgiving myself for that funny fourth finger curling and extending on its own. This exercise is about letting go of the expectations of perfection. As kids, we use the pinkie swear a symbol of trust. I should trust myself more.
day 2 - seeing things as they are - exercise 1, lines 4-6
The truth I found today is that my first finger on the A string is always my floatiest note. It's even more floaty than my pinkie! Today I am practicing with a metronome, with a digital tuner, and while my hair is still wild, at least my B is a little bit tamed.
Line 5 is the exercise that I've been doing from childhood, and I really love the open A alternated with the scale going up and down - it's comforting and sounds amazing.
My hand shape drifts on line 6 and the notes start drifting. I didn't spend as much time on it before recording.
day 3 - vexing - exercise 1 - lines 6-9
Today vexed me: that fourth interval (1st finger B to 4th finger E) is just maddening. My B kept slipping and sliding and I keep moving my left elbow inwards which keeps the left hand stable, but I drift back to old habits. At the end my E's matched! Bless my landlords cause that wasn't pretty.