Thank you! Just yesterday my twin brother asked me "Did you practice your violin today?" And I told him I don't practice, I play and I play for the joy of it
Thank you Mary for this spoken thoughts. So true what you wrote. When every afternoon I pick up my violin and start practicing the best thing is experimentation. My big fault is that the fraidy cat is always with me - even when scaling. But ... when I close my eyes and forget that I'm practicing and listen to the sounds of my violin what I can make out of her - that's a great thing. And that fraidy cat hides. :)
Hello! Thank you very much! You have a wonderful gift for storytelling... 'when I close my eyes and forget that I'm practicing and listen to the sounds of my violin what I can make out of her...' that's poetry! However, my sympathies are with fraidy cat; come on out again, fraidy cat, and listen to scales if that's what you love...Mary
Something I find helpful is, when I start practicing, just to begin by playing very very easy things, like basic scales incredibly slowly and deliberately. In other words, make the instrument itself feel as easy to play as possible so that there are no hurdles to jump over from the outset. I then build up from there very gradually as I regain confidence in my playing, just playing scales/arpeggios at my own pace until I'm confident enough to move onto exercises, studies, pieces. I then find that it's not as scary as it might otherwise be to get the violin out of its case, and to feel from the beginning that it's not some insurmountably difficult instrument.
Thank you for making this video. This is something my teacher is telling me with some other words, not with the word expiriment. Now with your video and saying it with this word(s) I think I finally understand what my teacher meant ❤
Thank you very much Misaki. I'm delighted you found the video helpful and now I'm very honoured that my words have mixed with your teacher's words and you have achieved great understanding! I wish you great happiness in all you do! Mary❤
Thank you very much Mary. This advice is very important that you are offering us. A flute teacher once told me that, from a certain level it is very difficult to move forward, many doctors say that, from a certain age it is very difficult to move with agility. Those two statements stop me when, in addition, I observe Master Classes in which the student touches the instrument with great skill and is still taking classes jajja. Krishnamurti said that the comparison only brought suffering and I think we can go further even and affirm that the desire for self-superation can also cause suffering if one expects short-term results. But adults we always think that we do not have much time, although we then live up to 96 years .😁. Therefore, brave adults (as he said about my close friend), we are hurried and anxious for rapid progress and get results.
Thank you Marta for these fascinating thoughts...isn't it remarkable how different people react to becoming older? Some remain very young seeming, some become powerfully wise, some lose flexibility both mentally and physically...How much is our attitude, habits, philosophies and expectations and how much is genetic? We all have our own stories we tell ourselves!! Mary❤
@@violinstudiowithmaryv Do you remember my tendonitis? Many talked about giving up the instrument, undergoing surgery, taking complete rest. I agreed with the recommendation of my sister (doctor and tennis player) who told me: Absolute rest, no, you have to regulate your movement. I changed the technique and thought to myself: "If we renew our cells every 3 months, this will cure me." And every day I studied, taking care to abandon the study before feeling pain. And I'm almost completely cured. I remembered your phrase: Never tell your body that it can't. That helped me a lot. Thank you Mary!
@@martatessi I certainly do remember your tendonitis! An inflammation caused by one activity and cured by another... The musicians with tendonitis I encountered mainly in orchestras were unable to regulate their movements because of the demands of work. It's just not possible to be able to alter things and be that careful when performing demanding symphonies etc So the only answer usually was to stop and wait for the inflammation to subside while rethinking the technique to avoid a recurrence. I have learned a lot from you because you are the first person I know that has carried on playing yet have managed to cure yourself... although I would still recommend resting actually, because not everyone is able to be aware enough to be careful, which is the key factor. Marta, you've shown a lot of faith in yourself and much love for the violin... You're a marvel and an inspiration! Mary❤
This is really helpful Mary ! I definitely go into my practice thinking hmm I made progress yesterday , I bet I won’t be able to do what I did again !!
Thank you Mary, your encouragement is so enlightening, I am obsessed playing my violin, my concern is why so much resistence on the bowing, my fingers are relax, on the right notes, however when I bow is like I swim against the current 😅
Thank you Alice! Sounds like even though your fingers are relaxed, you arm and wrist are not. So try putting the bow on the string in the middle then lift all fingers except the first and thumb and do little bows. See how the arm and wrist feel - free or tight? It's a process of elimination. Let me know how you get on and if we need to try something else, ok? Let's sort this...Mary❤
I have heard Ida Haendel say: You study the violin from a young age, with the violin you grow. On the other hand I heard Perlman say: If you don't play for an audience it doesn't make sense. Those two statements do not apply in my case. I didn't study violin when I was little, I did study flute, but I have a lot of fun studying the violin and I will never play for an audience, at least for now. These are statements from great people that do not help my case. I try to ignore them, but it's very difficult. That's why I study violin secretly. 😒
Hello Marta! I think Shakespeare said it best; 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet' The wonderful musicality within those two violinists is exactly the same as we have inside us...it's all made of the same life substance. Creativity, joy, growth, light, they are the same in all of us whether or not we played as a child or played for an audience; those things are just personal tales...nothing is secret on a true level of life. Everything interacts with life and creativity is transmitted whether we see or know it ourselves. Mary❤
I cannot believe you addressed exactly what I was telling myself yesterday during practice....thinking... I'm never going to get where I want to....maybe time to give up... THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO.... today I am going to 'experiment', not practice....
Hello Janet! You are very brave. It's great that the timing was good for you...have a little break from the violin and you'll soon feel the love again...it's amazing how much knowledge and experience of the violin we have inside us. It's precious stuff and very hard won. Take care and thank you. Mary❤
Hola Mary! Este vídeo es una joya! Ahora voy a mi clase semanal de violín y cuando vuelva a casa volveré a escucharte! Experimentar en lugar de practicar es una idea genial! 👏👏👏👏 Me ha encantado tu comentario " no es una cuestión de mal o bien, es una cuestión de lo viejo y lo nuevo"... Creo que es muy útil sujetar el violín y dedicarle una gran sonrisa cuando empecemos a estudiar/experimentar...nuestros violines se lo merecen, no? Mil gracias por compartir tus experiencias con nosotras, Mary! Un gran abrazo y cuídate mucho! 💜🎶💜🎻
Hello Lola! Some days our fingers are stiff and our vibrato is slow..we've all had that. But so what! We know everything will soften and we'll soon be melting in with our violins again soon, right? There's a wonderful feeling of familiarity, hope and pleasure every time I put my beloved violin under my chin and start, ever so slowly sometimes, to play! It's like coming home every time to my partner, my soul, my endless possibilities and searches...and my violin has within it the whole world of music, beauty and sound to discover... And now I will add your beautiful suggestion - a smile of greeting.😊 Thank you for your insight and inspiration Lola! A big hug! Mary❤
Wow, Mary! This is exactly what I needed to hear today. I am going to watch this again when I need to turn away from the negative thoughts. Your calm voice and wisdom will help me get to where I want to be with this beautiful instrument. Thanks for your encouragement.
Thank you for nother video!! About practicing, it has been too overwhelming for me these days. I've got a paganini concerto, mozart concerto and a bach sonata on my list these days, and they are all new. All the repertoires are so different, and they all need different approaches. As I love love love those pieces, it's so hard to switch gears while practicing, and I don't know what to experiment. I'm trying to tackle all the problems and change them, it made me so confuse of if I'm really practicing those pieces or focussing on something else. I would love to hear your advice, I have a total of about 10 movements to practice these days, should I do them section by section, or all at once?
I'm sorry you are under so much pressure and you're right, you really need a strategy. But why on earth have you been given this enormous volume of movements to learn without advice about how to tackle your practice? Can't you communicate with your teacher? What's going on? Learning pieces in depth is really the best way to progress...this is more like a factory. However, I wouldn't mix the pieces. Instead I advise you to do a block of Bach so your mind can be totally in Bach mode, then another block in Mozart mode and so on with each composer and style. That should prevent 'leaking' mentally from one piece to another and so prevent confusion and uncertainty. So it's much more helpful for you at the moment for your mind to be clear and compartmented rather than jumping all over. I hope you do well! Mary❤
@@violinstudiowithmaryv I have an audition coming up next year and all of these are required... but, thank you for the concern and again, wonderful advices!❤️ And I've decided, to do what my heart wants on the given day and tackle each of them slowly, but without any particular routine or I wouldn't be able to sink in the groove of each of the repertoire. Thank you, thank you!🤍🤍
@@kiseryo You have given yourself the very best advice possible! I wish you the very best and I know you will always have the best outcome when you bring your heart into your considerations and decisions. Mary❤
Thank you! Just yesterday my twin brother asked me "Did you practice your violin today?" And I told him I don't practice, I play and I play for the joy of it
Wonderful, that's the spirit! Thank you. Mary❤
So true 👍 is a never ending learning and unlearning construction full of meaning
You have a great gift with words - beautifully put! Mary❤
Thank you Mary for this spoken thoughts. So true what you wrote.
When every afternoon I pick up my violin and start practicing the best thing is experimentation. My big fault is that the fraidy cat is always with me - even when scaling. But ... when I close my eyes and forget that I'm practicing and listen to the sounds of my violin what I can make out of her - that's a great thing. And that fraidy cat hides. :)
Hello! Thank you very much! You have a wonderful gift for storytelling...
'when I close my eyes and forget that I'm practicing and listen to the sounds of my violin what I can make out of her...' that's poetry!
However, my sympathies are with fraidy cat; come on out again, fraidy cat, and listen to scales if that's what you love...Mary
Something I find helpful is, when I start practicing, just to begin by playing very very easy things, like basic scales incredibly slowly and deliberately. In other words, make the instrument itself feel as easy to play as possible so that there are no hurdles to jump over from the outset. I then build up from there very gradually as I regain confidence in my playing, just playing scales/arpeggios at my own pace until I'm confident enough to move onto exercises, studies, pieces. I then find that it's not as scary as it might otherwise be to get the violin out of its case, and to feel from the beginning that it's not some insurmountably difficult instrument.
Hello Colin! Thank you so much for this great advice. Very thoughtful, helpful and kind. Mary❤
❤
Your videos and approach are incredibly helpful -- especially to this adult violin student!
Thank you so much for saying so - I'm delighted you find them helpful! Take care. Mary❤
Thank you for making this video. This is something my teacher is telling me with some other words, not with the word expiriment. Now with your video and saying it with this word(s) I think I finally understand what my teacher meant ❤
Thank you very much Misaki.
I'm delighted you found the video helpful and now I'm very honoured that my words have mixed with your teacher's words and you have achieved great understanding!
I wish you great happiness in all you do! Mary❤
Thank you very much Mary. This advice is very important that you are offering us. A flute teacher once told me that, from a certain level it is very difficult to move forward, many doctors say that, from a certain age it is very difficult to move with agility. Those two statements stop me when, in addition, I observe Master Classes in which the student touches the instrument with great skill and is still taking classes jajja. Krishnamurti said that the comparison only brought suffering and I think we can go further even and affirm that the desire for self-superation can also cause suffering if one expects short-term results. But adults we always think that we do not have much time, although we then live up to 96 years .😁. Therefore, brave adults (as he said about my close friend), we are hurried and anxious for rapid progress and get results.
Thank you Marta for these fascinating thoughts...isn't it remarkable how different people react to becoming older? Some remain very young seeming, some become powerfully wise, some lose flexibility both mentally and physically...How much is our attitude, habits, philosophies and expectations and how much is genetic?
We all have our own stories we tell ourselves!! Mary❤
@@violinstudiowithmaryv Do you remember my tendonitis? Many talked about giving up the instrument, undergoing surgery, taking complete rest. I agreed with the recommendation of my sister (doctor and tennis player) who told me: Absolute rest, no, you have to regulate your movement. I changed the technique and thought to myself: "If we renew our cells every 3 months, this will cure me." And every day I studied, taking care to abandon the study before feeling pain. And I'm almost completely cured. I remembered your phrase: Never tell your body that it can't. That helped me a lot. Thank you Mary!
@@martatessi I certainly do remember your tendonitis! An inflammation caused by one activity and cured by another...
The musicians with tendonitis I encountered mainly in orchestras were unable to regulate their movements because of the demands of work. It's just not possible to be able to alter things and be that careful when performing demanding symphonies etc
So the only answer usually was to stop and wait for the inflammation to subside while rethinking the technique to avoid a recurrence.
I have learned a lot from you because you are the first person I know that has carried on playing yet have managed to cure yourself... although I would still recommend resting actually, because not everyone is able to be aware enough to be careful, which is the key factor.
Marta, you've shown a lot of faith in yourself and much love for the violin...
You're a marvel and an inspiration! Mary❤
@@violinstudiowithmaryv Thank you Mary! You're right. In Orchestra we can't regulate movement. I was in Orchestra with the flute. I understand.
This is really helpful Mary ! I definitely go into my practice thinking hmm I made progress yesterday , I bet I won’t be able to do what I did again !!
Thank you Katie; and yet, and yet...you do it!😊Take care. Mary❤
@@violinstudiowithmaryv that’s very true Mary 😁
Good for you Katie! You're a trooper!
Mary❤
Thank you Mary, your encouragement is so enlightening, I am obsessed playing my violin, my concern is why so much resistence on the bowing, my fingers are relax, on the right notes, however when I bow is like I swim against the current 😅
Thank you Alice! Sounds like even though your fingers are relaxed, you arm and wrist are not. So try putting the bow on the string in the middle then lift all fingers except the first and thumb and do little bows. See how the arm and wrist feel - free or tight? It's a process of elimination. Let me know how you get on and if we need to try something else, ok? Let's sort this...Mary❤
I have heard Ida Haendel say: You study the violin from a young age, with the violin you grow. On the other hand I heard Perlman say: If you don't play for an audience it doesn't make sense. Those two statements do not apply in my case. I didn't study violin when I was little, I did study flute, but I have a lot of fun studying the violin and I will never play for an audience, at least for now. These are statements from great people that do not help my case. I try to ignore them, but it's very difficult. That's why I study violin secretly. 😒
Hello Marta! I think Shakespeare said it best; 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet' The wonderful musicality within those two violinists is exactly the same as we have inside us...it's all made of the same life substance. Creativity, joy, growth, light, they are the same in all of us whether or not we played as a child or played for an audience; those things are just personal tales...nothing is secret on a true level of life. Everything interacts with life and creativity is transmitted whether we see or know it ourselves. Mary❤
❤
I cannot believe you addressed exactly what I was telling myself yesterday during practice....thinking... I'm never going to get where I want to....maybe time to give up... THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO.... today I am going to 'experiment', not practice....
Hello Janet! You are very brave. It's great that the timing was good for you...have a little break from the violin and you'll soon feel the love again...it's amazing how much knowledge and experience of the violin we have inside us. It's precious stuff and very hard won. Take care and thank you. Mary❤
Noticing what you do... slowing it down... letting go of negative thinking and negarive feeling...
Thanks much Mary
Hello, letting go becomes easier with 'practice'😊
Thank you very much. Take care, Mary❤
Hola Mary! Este vídeo es una joya! Ahora voy a mi clase semanal de violín y cuando vuelva a casa volveré a escucharte! Experimentar en lugar de practicar es una idea genial! 👏👏👏👏 Me ha encantado tu comentario " no es una cuestión de mal o bien, es una cuestión de lo viejo y lo nuevo"... Creo que es muy útil sujetar el violín y dedicarle una gran sonrisa cuando empecemos a estudiar/experimentar...nuestros violines se lo merecen, no? Mil gracias por compartir tus experiencias con nosotras, Mary! Un gran abrazo y cuídate mucho! 💜🎶💜🎻
Hello Lola! Some days our fingers are stiff and our vibrato is slow..we've all had that. But so what! We know everything will soften and we'll soon be melting in with our violins again soon, right?
There's a wonderful feeling of familiarity, hope and pleasure every time I put my beloved violin under my chin and start, ever so slowly sometimes, to play!
It's like coming home every time to my partner, my soul, my endless possibilities and searches...and my violin has within it the whole world of music, beauty and sound to discover...
And now I will add your beautiful suggestion - a smile of greeting.😊
Thank you for your insight and inspiration Lola!
A big hug! Mary❤
Wow, Mary! This is exactly what I needed to hear today. I am going to watch this again when I need to turn away from the negative thoughts. Your calm voice and wisdom will help me get to where I want to be with this beautiful instrument. Thanks for your encouragement.
Dear Anne, you're already where you want to be - playing the violin!😊 Mary❤❤❤
Thank you , Mary V !!
I needed to be reminded. Points all well taken in advance of my experimenting today with My cuppa !!!
Thank you for nother video!! About practicing, it has been too overwhelming for me these days. I've got a paganini concerto, mozart concerto and a bach sonata on my list these days, and they are all new. All the repertoires are so different, and they all need different approaches. As I love love love those pieces, it's so hard to switch gears while practicing, and I don't know what to experiment. I'm trying to tackle all the problems and change them, it made me so confuse of if I'm really practicing those pieces or focussing on something else. I would love to hear your advice, I have a total of about 10 movements to practice these days, should I do them section by section, or all at once?
I'm sorry you are under so much pressure and you're right, you really need a strategy.
But why on earth have you been given this enormous volume of movements to learn without advice about how to tackle your practice?
Can't you communicate with your teacher? What's going on? Learning pieces in depth is really the best way to progress...this is more like a factory.
However, I wouldn't mix the pieces. Instead I advise you to do a block of Bach so your mind can be totally in Bach mode, then another block in Mozart mode and so on with each composer and style. That should prevent 'leaking' mentally from one piece to another and so prevent confusion and uncertainty.
So it's much more helpful for you at the moment for your mind to be clear and compartmented rather than jumping all over.
I hope you do well! Mary❤
@@violinstudiowithmaryv I have an audition coming up next year and all of these are required... but, thank you for the concern and again, wonderful advices!❤️ And I've decided, to do what my heart wants on the given day and tackle each of them slowly, but without any particular routine or I wouldn't be able to sink in the groove of each of the repertoire. Thank you, thank you!🤍🤍
@@kiseryo You have given yourself the very best advice possible! I wish you the very best and I know you will always have the best outcome when you bring your heart into your considerations and decisions. Mary❤