Health & Fitness
Practice Tips for String Students
As an orchestra teacher and new KP resident, it is important for all string students to know how to practice at home. Here are some helpful tips and reminders to make the most out of practicing!
1. Start your practice session with scales and warm-up exercises. This gives your fingers and muscles a chance to loosen up and an opportunity for you to get the intonation of your pitches in your ear.
2. Use a metronome when practicing passages with difficult rhythmic patterns.
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3. When you are practicing and you get tired or lose concentration, take a break. Go to another activity and come back to practicing when you are refocused. Quality practicing wins over quantity.
4. Difficult passages should be played slowly. At a slower tempo, you can focus better on the notes and rhythm. Your fingers will also have the opportunity to learn the placements for each of the notes and how far they are from one another on your fingerboard. You become aware of the pattern of the notes that need to be played and once that becomes comfortable, you can gradually build up speed with a metronome.
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5. Rosin your bow.
6. Always COUNT! Feel the pulse - the 'heartbeat' of the music.
7. "Righty tighty, lefty loosey" - remember to tighten and loosen the screw at the bottom of the bow (attached to the end of the frog) when preparing to play and when packing away your instrument.
Turn the screw RIGHT to tighten the bow hair to build resistance and tension.
*It is VERY IMPORTANT to keep the arch (concave shape) of the wooden/fiberglass bow stick. If the bow is tightened too much, when the bow stick begins to shape outward (like parenthesis or convex shaped), the bow will be at a very high risk of buckling from the pressure and breaking into pieces.
A useful tip to check if your bow is not too tight and not too loose is to gently stick the tip of your pinky or the eraser end of a pencil in between the bow hair and stick at the midpoint of the bow. If your pinky tip or pencil fits in without extra space above or below and without friction, you are ready to play!
Turn the screw LEFT to loosen the bow hair to release the tension when storing the bow in the instrument case.
8. Gently dust/wipe off white rosin dust off the body of your instrument with a dry cloth. If rosin dust sits on the wood finish too long, the polish deteriorates your instrument will lose its shine!
Remember... Practice makes PERFECT!!!!!
