NO-fault practice
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
8M ago
The Gift of Easeful Practice, Part 2. What if mindful practice made it easier? This series is about mindfulness and music, how to drop into a space that is more easeful, and letting yourself experience practice in a different way. Though I speak as a violinist, these principles apply across every instrument. Read Part 1: Finding the Refuge Image: Tobias Reich @electerious The Fear of Fault You’ve felt it before: fear of playing incorrectly causes us to contract and tighten up. What will they think? Sometimes this contraction is acute in the body, even producing pain, and other times it is qui ..read more
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Finding the refuge
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
1y ago
The gift of easeful practice - part one For many years I struggled to get better at violin. I went after it with single-minded focus. I put all of my willpower into it. I aimed ever higher; more challenge, higher positions, faster passages. I wanted to get into the best orchestra, win at auditions, and have the approval of conductors and other musicians I admired. I knew this required practice. Every day, for several hours. I demanded strict discipline from myself. I willing accepted the challenge. In college I remember putting in an hour or two of practice and then going to a 90-minute orches ..read more
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The three assistants
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
1y ago
how to sound better with less effort Did you know you can work less hard and get more sound? How? By getting help from the “Three Assistants”. These three bow helpers will not only do the work for you, but deliver a better result in your playing. The Three Assistants Your first partner in playing is — your VIOLIN! It will literally help you hold the bow. Your second assistant is — the EARTH. Feel it under your feet. The Earth will pull your bow arm down and sink it into the string. Your ELBOW is your third helper….What!? What can your elbow do? A lot, as it turns out. But more on this in a min ..read more
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Sound better with less effort
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
1y ago
Did you know you can work less hard and get more sound? How? By getting help from the “Three Assistants”. These three bow helpers will not only do the work for you, but deliver a better result in your playing. The Three Assistants Your first partner in playing is — your VIOLIN! It will literally help you hold the bow. Your second assistant is — the EARTH. Feel it under your feet. The Earth will pull your bow arm down and sink it into the string. Your ELBOW is your third helper….What!? What can your elbow do? A lot, as it turns out. But more on this in a minute… Let’s take a look at how to ask ..read more
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Playing on the spectrum
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
1y ago
How to help students with Asperger’s, ADHD and Neuro-divergent students She was wound tight as a drum. Wresting her violin out of the case, this high-school student threw herself into playing her piece, even before saying hello. She crashed around the notes, her bow smashing and sawing against the strings. Her frustration increased, as she was not playing cleanly or with good tone. Her body, already full of tension, began to jerk and start, and her already tight hands clutched harder, like a hawk wired to clamp around prey for fear it will escape. I asked her to stop, but as soon as she did, a ..read more
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3 Keys To Artistic Victory
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
1y ago
Ability, fluency, and mastery What is playing violin all about? For some, it is about “being the best.” For others, it is a recreational activity. Still others do it “because Mom told me to.” In my experience, however, students who stick around in our studio are motivated by something far deeper: Artistic Victory. Josep Molina Secall @josepmolina What is Artistic Victory? Artistic victory is not like “success” in the way Americans normally define it. It is not a product, a commodity, or an “outcome” (think: school curriculum units). It is less like a tangible, measurable thing and more like a ..read more
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How To Develop Your Child’s Talent
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
1y ago
How on earth do you teach a five-year-old to play the violin? The violin is more difficult to play than other instruments. How can a child learn all the complicated motions, not to mention the notes? How do you help if you don’t have a musical background yourself? Are some people just born with talent? (Image by Kazuo ota @kazuo513) Many people believe that you either have talent or you don’t, and if you don’t, it will be too difficult to learn it. Shin’ichi Suzuki saw it differently. Everyone has ability His answer lay in Saino Kyokiu, Japanese for “talent education” or better translated ..read more
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From fomo to jomo - the joy of missing out
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
1y ago
Have you had this experience? You sit down to watch something, and you just can’t decide. You surf over to this preview and that one, uncertain what you really want to watch. Pretty soon half an hour has gone by, and you haven’t started anything yet! David Balev @davidbalev Infinite Browsing Mode Author Pete Davis calls this Netflix paralysis “Infinite Browsing Mode.” In his book Dedicated, he discusses how Infinite Browsing Mode has become a mode of life. It goes way beyond choosing a movie: Infinite Browsing Mode prevents people from forming solid relationships, joining communities, and bui ..read more
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How To Practice On Vacation
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
1y ago
If you’re like me you look forward to down-time in the summer. Going away with the family is important for everyone’s psychological health as well as spending time together. But how do you integrate violin practice into vacation? In a way that it doesn’t feel like too much work?? Not Just Work For parents, helping kids understand that violin practice can go on during vacation is important for two reasons: 1) It helps them see the activity as play, and 2) it opens them to the idea that their violin is a natural part of their life. Violin is not just something we do when we are “serious” or ..read more
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What to do when practicing gets hard
Edward's Violin Studio
by Edward Obermueller
2y ago
Introduce ease into your life as a musician through a more mindful approach. Recently in a group class, I alluded to playing naturally, with ease. And not working too hard. “But isn’t violin work?” asked a confused student. I said that yes, sometimes it is, but most of the time we want to feel a sense of ease, to do what feels natural, in the sense of the sun shining or a plant growing. Or in the words of Dr. Suzuki, speaking in your “mother tongue” or the language you grew up with. It just flows out, naturally. The paradigm of hard work In America especially, we have the sense that hard work ..read more
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