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Also see: How much do professionals practice?

PRACTICE BOOKS/CHARTS:
Madeline Bruser, The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music from the Heart
Burton Kaplan, Musician's Practice Log
Burton Kaplan, A Rhythm Sight-Reader: Bk 1, Bk 2
Burton Kaplan, Practicing for Artistic Success: The Musician's Guide to Self-Empowerment
Stuart Edward Dunkel, The Audition Process: Anxiety Management and Coping Strategies (Juilliard Performance Guides, No 3)
Margret Elson, Passionate Practice: The Musician's Guide to Learning, Memorizing, and Performing
Jack Grassel, Power Practicing
Don Greene, Audition Success (A Theatre Arts Book)
Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing Your Best Under Pressure (Theatre Arts)

Question: I'm curious about practice habits, both with respect to students and teachers (or teachers who also practice -- as one hopes they do, and which I'm sure that most do.)
  1. How much do you practice - versus how much do you think you *should* practice or wish you *did* practice.
  2. Do you have a specific practice routine [for example, 20 minutes at a time, with a break, or separate hours set aside for your main instrument, or a secondary instrument, or for specific repertoire]
  3. How consistent are you?
  4. When do you take off? [for example, summers, holidays, child-rearing, illness]
  5. If you're a teacher, how do you present this topic to your students; how do you monitor it; how do you promote better practice habits.
  6. Do you write down practice plans, or otherwise keep track of your practice & goals in practicing?
  7. Do you look for new repertoire, both for yourself and/or your students, and make plans to listen, study and practice new materials on a consistent basis?
  8. Since you began studying the instruments, what is the longest time you've gone without practicing?
  9. In the long term, what have your practice habits been, and how have they been shaped by your personal & professional life?
  10. Can you recommend any books or webpage dealing with this topic?



Responses:

note74Emily wrote: At the moment, I'm two months away from my master's recital. So my practice habits are pretty intense these days. I'm aiming for 4-5 hours a day, Monday-Friday. I always take the weekends and evenings off to save my sanity and to have some sort of normal life. I'm very disciplined about my schedule, and generally get to the instrument at about 9:30 every day. I take a small stretch every 30 minutes, and a larger break (lunch, dog walk, something like that) every 2 hours.

When I was in undergrad in the early 90s, I was practicing about 8 hours a day with extremely poor technique. This very bad habit led to injury, thoracic outlet syndrome. It made me drop my major, and I was unable to play at all for several years.

It's terribly important for me to warm up physically before I start to play because of my injury, so I either do yoga before I start to practice, or a small amount of light exercise and self-massage to hands, shoulders and arms. These days I start with Bach pretty much because I find Bach very engaging in the morning, because it's first on my program, and because it requires the most attention. (Well, the most attention aside from the Ravel Toccata, which requires the most attention, but would be a really bad choice for warm-up.)

When I wasn't working toward my master's degree, I practiced about 2 hours a day. Any less than an hour, and the effects showed up in my teaching. Sight-reading goes out the window.... don't have fresh ideas for my students.

I have been taking piano lessons outside of a school situation from a more experienced teacher since I got back to the instrument after my injury in order to learn a more effective technique. I generally let this teacher guide my repertoire so that I continually expand my sphere of knowledge.

I use a lot of self-assessment with my students. I got the idea from someone on this list to have the students play each piece 4 times, 4 days in the early stages of lessons. After that, I find guides are really difficult to create as everybody learns at a different rate. Before each lesson, I ask if the student has had a good practice week or a bad practice week. Good practice weeks get stars on a board, every 4 weeks they get a prize. I then have them rate each piece on a scale of 1-10. (took this idea from Philip Johnston's book, The Practice Revolution) Every student knows that they can have very good practice weeks, but difficulties with a piece that make the ratings lower. It's ok to have difficulties, just as long as they try to get past them. I never judge them if they have a bad week, I just ask what happened and how we can make the next week better. I know these kids have extreme pressures sometimes, and I am pretty accepting of lapses in energy, as long as they don't last forever.

At present, I have only one student who's got a consistent problem with this, and I have a hard time blaming him. He's in 1st grade, and his parents pick him up from his after-school program at 6 in the evening. He then has at least an hour of homework every night. He's doing very poorly in piano, but his parents just aren't there to back it up. I will be having a difficult chat with the mother after this recital. This can't go on. I'm not the big bad witch, and he thinks I am simply because he can't practice.

note74Theresa wrote:
  1. a few hours, wish I could practice- all day
  2. When I'm tired of one, I go to the other.
  3. I practice everyday
  4. when I'm on my death bed, or when I mess up something on the lower half of my body like when I tore a tendon in my foot.
  5. I have assignment sheets where the student can mark down how long they've practiced, and I give points for the practicing, and they can earn a reward for the points. I also give points for performance, tutoring, jamming, the lessonand practice challenges. I also have webpages for them if they want them. THe practice challenges work really well. they do a certain amount of days of practice in a row, and get a prize from me. 16 days gets a king size candy bar (their choice), 36 gets Culvers ice cream tokens or Mc D's gift certs (I have some now good for ice cream, fries, cookies...) 64 gets 500 points and a personalized prize (depnding on the age), 100 days gets a $10 gift card for the store or restaurant of their choice. One student asked if I had more than 100 days! I told her I'd make a sheet for it.
  6. I tried that, and I usually ignored it. I fell like playing different things on different days.
  7. yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...
  8. 1 week
  9. I practice every chance I get. I've given up going out with friends, tv until I've practiced at least 3 hours (I can't resist the Simpsons!) video games, and spending a lot of time on the computer.
  10. Practice Spot and Jack Grassel


note74Bob N. wrote: Usually I start out with 2 and 3 note scale patterns, to loosen up. So much of Bluegrass is improvisational. Right now I am working on Pentatonic scales in all keys BG uses. That usually comsumes about 30-45 minutes mixing both bowing and scale exercises. I frequently do this with a metronome, a habit left over from the mandolin. Scale exercises are also adapted from mando playing.

Then I pretty much freeform from a list of the tunes I know pretty well to keep them up to jamming level to the ones I am currently getting up to speed. I find this combination of scale based exercises and picking different tunes to work on is improving my intonation, flexibility, tone, string crossings and improv ideas.

I try to add a new tune a month from a mix of old-timey, bluegrass and celtic.

I usually address at least one "notey" tune, one shuffle-based and one slow tune to work on vibrato, my weakest technique, in each practice session. I can't make a lot of noise though and practice a lot on a "silent fiddle" which I find greatly affects intonation. I also try to play along with recordings.

As far as time spent. When I practice it is usually about 2 hours a day, oftentimes broken up. I find if I don't practice because of work or whatever I tighten up and get some pain in my left arm. So trying to practice everday is about getting better as well as pain avoidance.

note74Roland Hutchinson wrote:

As Katims said (tongue-in-cheek) to Szegeti, we violists never practice.

It's a lie, of course, but with a grain of truth: a serious-sized viola (by which I mean, approximately, anything over 16 inches) is sufficiently taxing to play that we can't clock the hours of incessant repetition that violinists in training seem to manage. We have to practice smart rather than practicing hard. (Maybe that's why we actually have time left over so that we can show up for theory class...)

And of course a youth misspent practicing the violin is a considerable leg-up for an aspiring violist. I believe that some things -- the ones that require serious amounts of repetition to train the brain as well as the muscles, which actually means almost everything, I suppose -- are easier to learn on the violin and then transfer to the viola than to learn from scratch on the viola. I wish I had understood all this when I was fourteen!

note74Bill Mutch wrote:

  1. I feel I *should* practice about 1.5 hours a day or 10 hours a week and for brief periods have exceeded that. These days as a defacto single parent with a full time job, part time business and household to manage, I actually get only about four hours a week. I retire in 2.5 months and hope to get much more practice time starting then..
  2. In theory. 1. I play for pure fun on either spanish guitar or cello...just a tune or three. 2. technically limber up on fiddle...two octave harmonic minor scales in all twelve keys or bowing a cha-cha beat against arpeggios in A...stuff like that. 3. play tunes for repertoire...somethin old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Often O'Carolan. TAKE A BREAK 4. sight read a lesson...on closing pages of volume two of Dolflien meathod. 5. Pick a tune or three on a CD and play along until I understand the tune well enough to write it down. Current favorites Robin Bullock and William Coulter 6. Cut loose and just play for fun...improvise or try to invent variations on common tunes
    In fact. I assess how much energy I have left in the evening and accomplish as much as I can. In nice weather I practice a short while outdoors over lunch hour. I take as many opportunities to practice/play with others as I can reasonably fit in.
  3. varies. previous couple of years fairly consistant, last year fairly sporadic due to job demands.
  4. I don't usually practice while on trips out of town. I blow off practice when overwhealmed with other tasks or really sick.
  5. d.n.a.
  6. I have goals and keep track of them as they evolve, but don't write them down.
  7. Oh, Yes ! Whenever I hear something new that really moves me I try to learn as much from it as I can. I build repertoire both from those tunes and from ones my friends bring to jam sessions. So many tunes, so little time !
  8. twelve years...the entire period I homesteaded in Maine. Else about four days.
  9. I had to cut back on practice because of exhaustion of half a year of very demanding work assignments and also when I realised I wasn't paying enough attention to my sons school problems.
  10. I feel I've benefited a lot from workshops organized by Simple Gifts; teachers in the Pennsylvania state university system. They have something to offer folk players from rank beginners to fairly advanced. I go to at least one of their events a year.


note74Jon Teske wrote:

  1. Well I can't say that I practice per se but I've been playing over 50 years and practiced intensely as a kid/young adult. I do play a minimum of three 2 1/2 hour rehearsals each week for concert performances. I probably practice for those rehearsals and additional 2-3 hours per week.
  2. No, not anymore. I also play piano and when I was actively studying it, I practiced about 1.5 hours/day. I was an adult at that time.
  3. Not very, but I am very efficient at practice. OTOH, I have already mastered most violin skills and I'm a very good sight reader so I don't have to spend an undue amount of time on any one piece.
  4. I seldom play during the summers although I have gone to an adult workshop on occasion. I have a routine I do before my season starts, usually in early September.
    A dozen years ago I had two major illnesses (heart attack, cancer). Upon recovery, I made an effort to resume orchestral playing (I could no longer travel as extensively as I once did) and I felt that playing was a major psychological factor in my recovery.
  5. I'm not a teacher (I probably could be though).
    One thing I would suggest, and did myself, I do have a special place to practice. I actually built an addition to my house as a music room (obviously not practical for everyone). I have also suggested that kids in particular have a place where they can leave their violin out...e.g. in an opened case, so that they can just grab the violin and tighten the bow, have a music stand already assembled and the music being studied on it. This makes practice more of a "let's do it" and not a ritual of getting the violin out, setting up the music stand etc etc. It much more efficient. When I was in school, I kept an instrument at home and used a school instrument in school much of the time.
  6. No and didn't when I was a student. When I studied in college (for credit, but not as a music major) I knew darn well what had to be done.
  7. Yes. I have a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of the repetory from recordings and my own long years of experience. I troll the local sheet music store pretty regularly and have a large sheet music library at home for violin, piano and viola. I have been through most of the standard pedagogic works (Rode, Dont, Kreutzer, some Paganini) long ago. I do on occasion review them. The most recent thing I have done is Tartini's "Art of the Bow."
  8. Two years. I quit violin in 10th and 11th grades (age 15-16) when I got really ticked at the 9th grade teacher. During the two year hiatus though, I did discover the repetory through recordings available at a public library where I had a part time job. Once I learned about literature other than "kid stuff" and junior high school arrangements, my interest really took off. I resumed violin in 12th grade. I had started at age 10 in fifth grade with public school lessons and I had private lesson starting a year later. I studied violin with reknown artists (Pro Arte Quartet members, reknown virtuoso Robert Gerle) in college and after until age 30.
  9. Well I'm retired now so I have a considerable amount of time to devote to music. I was an active player through most of my working career which was not in music. I did have to drop out of orchestras for a while when travel made it impractical to be in a standing orchestra and I also did try to be a good parent to my kids when they were young. A lot of energy went into my kids' piano lessons (they never studied violin).
    My music may have actually shaped my professional life more than the other way around. I was a career US Government official for 35 years , ultimately at a fairly high rank (2nd highest rank in the career Civil Service aside from the appointed "supergrades.") The confidence and "nerves of steel" I got from public music performance and some high school acting permitted me to be a high profile public speaker in my government job (some might say even to the point of glibness). I could make presentations, briefings, testimony, training at almost any level and never break a sweat doing it. I briefed agency heads, cabinet secretaries, the US Vice President on one occasion, the NSC head (who later became head of CIA), ambassadors, four-star generals and admirals and most of the higher officials of my own agency. I was often the "briefer of choice" for these executive presentations. I have done briefings to Congress, at the Pentagon, and twice at the White House. In both written and spoken communication I had a pretty good track record at prying out money for my agency's programs.
    I do not get unduly nervous in public music performance either in solo work or with groups.

  10. Two books by my last teacher, Robert Gerle, now classics in the field:

    The Art of Practising the Violin (it was published in England hence the Brit way of spelling)

    The Art of Bowing Practice

    I jestingly suggest that Gerle's efforts in teaching me must have inspired these two book...both were written after my time with him. They are not really suitable for younger students, but great books for teachers, parents, and kids of at least the early teen years. They are not self contained studies in themselves but rather discussions and approaches to different practicing problems. Highly recommended.
    There is a fine video web www.violinmasterclass.com. It covers everything from rank beginner to virtuoso stuff. You can spend hours on this site. It is not a substitue for good instruction since you cannot receive feedback from an instructor this way. It probably requires a high speed connection.


note74Peter Schug wrote:

  1. When I started I practiced 40 to 45 minutes, three times a day. 5:30 AM with my coffee, when I got home from work, around 6:30 PM and again at around 10 or 11 PM. I am old enough to develop aches and pains if I practice too much and I seldom do 40 minutes a day now.
  3. In the beginning I was very consistant, but now too many things encroach on my time and attention
  4. Weekends. I almost always go away on weekends. I have a fiddle where I stay, but I don't always get around to practicing.
  6. Currently I am a member of a class and I practice whatever we are learning at the time. I am sixty-eight and I need the practice to keep ahead of thc class. It's easy to fall behind and hard to catch up at my age and skill level.
  7. If I hear something I like and it is within my ability I will often learn it just for fun.
  8. Probably only a few days, not counting two bouts of surgery that slowed me down a bit.
  9. I have to get up and go to work every morning and that tends not to be fun so I enjoyed playing as soon as I got up. Now I no longer feel the need, but my practice fiddle is right next to my computer and I still might pick it up on a whim while getting ready for work.
  10. No, but I do practice with my computer for accompaniment and I can say that I learned a lot about music writing accompaniment for my practice. I think learning a bit about harmony and applying it is a great adjunct to learning to play an instrument.


note74 palprom wrote: Friend of mine used to preach that the teacher - who had mastered his/her performing skills earlier in the career - does not need to practice any more.

Connie wrote: Respectfully, I just don't think there's a BIT of truth in that. I find if I don't practice I don't play well, I'm not as sharp, and I can't stand myself. :) And I'm not continuing to learn, not learning new repertoire, and not understanding my students' perspectives as I should do. Nope: that's just not correct. What would I do if I got to the point where I didn't think I needed to practice any more? I'm not a robot; I need to stay fresh. And there is no end to learning.

AnnaMarie wrote: I have to agree. I went quite a while without fitting practicing into my schedule. I didn't really notice a problem until I started to practice again, and not only realized all I had lost, but also found myself coming up with all sorts of new ideas and techniques to teach my own students. I currently aim for an hour of practice, 5 days a week, although some weeks are better than others :) I am also looking into beginning to study under a teacher again myself, at one of the universities close by. I can't imagine that I would ever feel like I was being the best teacher I could be, unless I was "practicing what I preach".

note74D Minor wrote:
  1. Most days about 1.5 hours, although it varies considerably. I don't have a fixed practice schedule. Probably should, but never will, that's just my nature.
  2. No. Once again, I probably should. I start by picking up my violin and just playing whatever comes out: It may be a piece I've been working on, or an improvisation, or just some tune that's been running through my head (frequently nothing whatever to do with violin repertory. For example, the other day I had a crack at Bohemian Rhapsody, for no particular reason). After that, I usually do a few scales and arpeggios, and then work a little on whatever I really _should_ be working on, which isn't always what I _want_ to work on.
  3. Consistent in quantity of practice, but not in quality. I seldom ever skip a day. You can practice a lot, and still learn very little, or vice versa. It all depends on whether you're working on the right stuff, and what mental attitude you take to it. In that regard, I'm all over the map, and not consistent at all.
  4. I try to never take time off. I frequently bring my violin with me on vacation. But, my fiancee just went through a very serious illness and surgery, and during some of that time I was so distracted that my practice, although still several times a week, was probably of very little value. To make matters worse, my teacher got sick right afterwards, and then had some travel obligations, so by the time I was done, I'd gone 6 weeks with very little _quality_ practice. And, my playing really sucked!
  5. I'm not.
  6. Nothing written. I do have a sort of a plan in mind, and my teacher helps solidify which goals are realistic, and how to pursue them.
  7. I look constantly. I browse sheet music stores and online. I spend hours working out pieces by ear that I've heard. Some of it is classical violin or fiddle stuff, some of it is just whatever I happen to think of -- opera arias, show tunes, movie soundtracks, clock chimes, police sirens. :-) You name it.
    I also spend a lot of time just studying violin scores, even for music that I can't possibly hope to play myself -- I'm an adult beginner of very limited talent. It might be many years before I can attempt the Beethoven violin concerto, if ever, but I still enjoy just studying it, looking at how the score is constructed as I listen to a recording.
  8. 2 weeks. I usually take my violin with me, but on the trip when we hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, that didn't seem like a good idea.
  9. As a relatively recent beginner (less than 2 years), the "long term" remains ahead of me.
  10. No.


note74Karl Winkler wrote:

  1. I practice for 1.5 to 2 hours at a sitting, generally 4 to 5 days a week if everything goes well. Sometimes I'm not able to practice this much, and hopefully, that's when I don't need to do so. I generally avoid "wishing" to do things, and just either make it so, or accept that other things take priority.
  2. My routine starts with 1-octave , single-string scales to get my ears and my left hand warmed up. Then I move to 3-octave scales. Then to the Ysaye bowing exersize. Then I work on an etude, and right now I'm working on the Kruetzer book. Then I work on whatever literature is in my folder, either string quartet material, orchestral material, or whatever. I make a concerted effort to pay attention while practicing, and play the material only as fast as I can do so, accurately.
  3. I think fairly consistent. I have to be careful on days when I might only get 30 or 45 minutes, not to rush through things and erase carefully done prior work.
  4. I don't usually practice on holidays (family or friends around) or on business travel. However, I did take my instrument on a business trip once, and was able to start working on some new orchestral literature. Otherwise I would have been a week behind. I don't play if I simply don't feel up to it - and this can happen for a variety of reasons.
  5. I haven't taught in years, but my general philosophy is that practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. So slow down, give your brain time to learn the material, and the speed will come with proper preparation.
  6. If I have a particularly busy week and a lot of material to learn, I might make a list, just so that I don't forget something and end up under-prepared.
  7. Yes, on a fairly consistent basis. Because I play in an orchestra and a string quartet, new material comes to me . Our quartet does a lot of reading, which in itself helps to pull us together and stretch the boundaries of our listening and sight-reading abilities.
  8. Between about 1990 and 2004 I quit playing. So when I picked it up again, I made a point of reviewing notes from old lessons, reading some pedagogical materials, and started practicing very slowly and deliberately. My goal was to not re-learn any old, bad habits, but instead, re-learn the good ones and learn new good ones. This approach I think was only available to me as an adult, with fairly decent hindsight and perspective.
  9. See above. In terms of my professional life, I have learned how to plan and execute a project very methodically. Also to prioritize, and to make decisions about what is important in life. That kind of thing was not foremost on my mind at age 19...
  10. The book I use is A technical pedegogy for the viola by Jeffry Showell, my teacher in college. Also, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose has influenced me more recently.

    Karl Winkler
    http://www.giovanniquartet.com
    http://www.karlwinkler.com/Honeycutt.html


note74Janet wrote:
  1. I play six days a week. One day is at my weekly lesson. Two or three times a month, it's with other people. The rest is practicing at home. Usually I play around 45 minutes, but that's been turning into an hour or so. If I'm having a bad violin day and nothing is coming out right, I'll stop after 20 minutes, but that's rare.

  2. I usually warm up with technical exercises. My attention span is about 10-15 minutes, so I'll practice a few different things in the middle. I always, always end on a positive note - a tune for fun, play a song from the movies or radio by ear, or on really challenging days, literally one good note on my favorite string. It's easier to come back the next day when I left with a positive feeling.

  3. Pretty consistent about putting in the time. Not so consistent about the content of practicing.

  4. Usually there's one day a week where I don't get to practicing. Fridays, for example; if I do something fun after work, I don't get home in time. I skipped two days last week because we hosted Easter dinner for nine and there was a lot to do. Vacations, if I'm out of town.



  6. Sporadically. I should be more consistent, for two reasons.
    First, it's a concrete embodiment of the effort I put in. I can flip through the book, and every page is an hour I spent playing. It lets me write down the insights I get during lessons, too, even though the words wouldn't make sense to anyone else ("keep doing that thing with relaxing the fourth finger"). I slack off on the pratice log when I feel like I'm not doing enough, and that's when I need to see the log most.
    Second, there's so much to do, and things keep sliding off my plate! I'm like a kid at an all you can eat buffet. I should focus on intonation. Oh, how are the double stops going? And I wanted to learn that Romanian tune. And work through the Daryl Anger DVD on chops and grooves. And rhythm stuff. Oh, and improvise. That means scales. Did I ever master the B-flat scale? Hey, here's a Bach piece I started, I should make more time for it. Shoot, I don't remember this tune well any more. You get the picture.
    Ideally I'd have a balance between structure and on-the-fly activities. Some days I'm responding to something that came up in a lesson, or prepping for a rehearsal, or having a long day at work and all I want to do is play loudly. At the same time, I want to include everything, eat all my veggies so I grow up into a strong and healthy violinist. The worst scenario would be playing tunes I know well over and over because it's practice time and I forgot about double stops/Bach/Daryl Anger/new tunes/scales... ( Well, the VERY WORST one would be not enjoying playing.) If I planned better, I might be able to practice two things at once -- metronome or bowing patterns with scales, tunes with double stops, tunes with third position, etc.

  7. "Hey, that's COOL! How do *I* play that?" Does that count? :) It happens a lot. I joined a dance band recently. Now I have a whole lot of tunes to study.

  8. Two weeks, out of almost two years. I was on vacation.

  9. For a while I practiced before work. It had a much different energy, plus I started the day by accomplishing something I like to do. If I do something physically tiring, it might interfere with playing. Yardwork can be killer on my hands. I've been taking a strenuous yoga class, which also saps all the strength from my arms, wrists, and hands. No practicing after yoga class.

  10. Resources:
    (1.) Scott Kritzer is a guitarist, but many of his articles apply to violin. In particular, Getting the Most From Your Practice (MSWord document) is an excellent way to structure practice.

    (2.) Ethan Winer has an article for adult beginners on Practice smarter, not harder.

    (3.) Michael Smolens describes how to make a supportive practice environment in The Art of Practice. He also gave a great workshop on practicing and being practical and sane about your music. He handed out a practice log, which I can't recap here, but the most interesting thing about it is a checkbox. The checkbox says "I am complete with my practicing this week. []" Did I show up? Great, I get to check the box. I may not have practiced as much or all of the things that I wanted to -- doesn't matter. I don't sound like Alasdair Fraser yet. Doesn't matter. I still get to check the box. It's so easy to make yourself crazy about all the ways you think you fell short, and how it doesn't count because it's not perfect. This is my art. I showed up. I'm having fun. That's what keeps me excited and involved.


note74Ann wrote:

  1. I work full time and preparing to teach down the road, but am currently studying with someone. I practice most every day, even when I am out of town. I have extra equipment at my weekend home. I practice anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours per day. It depends on how tired I am, what other stuff I have on my schedule. When I am asked by parents how long their child should practice, I tell them it depends on their age, some other factors. My feeling is it's better to practice for 15 minutes being VERY focused than to force practice for an hour, possibly making mistakes, and repeating mistakes in your practice. However, children are children and tend to rationalize when they hear 15 minutes!
  2. I do usually practice 20 minutes at a clip, then just "screw around" playing for fun for another 10-15 minutes, going back to the routine.
  3. VERY
  4. If I'm sick, I leave it alone. If I am too tired, I leave it alone. I usually do take off one day, sometimes two per week. Just depends.
  5. Not teaching yet.
  6. I tape my lessons, I keep a notebook/log, copies, etc. I'm pretty diligent and will expect the same from students (if it's realistic). I have personal goals, and one of the questions I'd ask someone coming to me, and I often have people begging me for lessons, is, "What do you want from this, how much work are you willing to do? Are you willing to have some FUN with this? Are you willing to PERFORM?"
  7. I fiddle primarily, as opposed to play violin. There is a difference. And yes, I look for new materials and ways of presenting information.
  8. I had some nerve damage last summer and there was s period of about two months when I just could not play, no matter what. I really lost a lot during that time. I completely lost my stride if you will. It took months to get it back.
  9. As I age, likely cognizant of fleeting life time left, I tend to waste less time, fantasize less about what I can truly achieve. I strive to do the best I can, and am truly glad when there are results. Which there are. I find when I am really diligent and realistic in my expectations, I get what I aim for. It takes practice, practice, practice.




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